Beyond Numbers
by El VIRM Dorado
Summary: "Darling in the FranXX Untold : Beyond Numbers This story is not a profoundly beautiful story of separation and reunion, a story of love and victory against the injust fate. A few rays of sunshine beam here and there, but for the most part there is only ashes and suffering in the wake of our destiny. [May go up to MA ratings]
1. Chapter 1

Beyond Numbers S1E01 – First Blood – by _El VIRM Dorado_

Another day, another couple of hours to endure the unending flow of stupidity. Such were the first thoughts of Code 016 as he was roused from his sleep by the Garden's caretakers. A teen code, and as such promised to a brilliant fate as an elite parasite. A young man, who would make a fine stamen one day – that was what his handlers were saying about him. He knew he was different from the rest, from the others whose codes were in the hundreds. He was _special_. He was thinking for himself, he was asking questions, he was making the caretakers uncomfortable. And for that, he was the subject to intense testing – some even said he would be, one day, the _Parasite Representative_ , one of Papa's special allies in his struggle to lead mankind.

That would be the dream of any parasite. Think about it : a way to help directly their Papa, the supreme commander of an united mankind, the god-and-father-figure all of them were supposed to worship and love, the one who created them. But to Code 016, that goal seemed eerie and ill-suited to his own tastes, and for a very simple reason.

 _He didn't like his fellow parasites_.

None of them were interesting. They were nice, and looked up to him with eyes full of stars, as if he was some kind of Messiah born to lead them to the promised land, as if he was, Papa forbid, _Papa_ _himself_. A small detail, though : he wasn't. None of them seemed able to tie their shoes themselves, let alone think for themselves. They were followers, most of them barely better than useless automatons. To try and alleviate the problem, he once had an idea, which he had tested on a little scared girl, crying and hugging a stuffed cat toy. He had told her about the names, an old pre-APE idea that he had discovered a while ago, calling himself _Hiro_ , from the very numbers of his code. Using her own code – which, as 015, was very close to his own – he had named her _Ichigo_ , hoping to light up, in her soul, the very desire for independance she lacked so much. To his huge regret, she had became one of his first _cultists_ , because that's what they were : soulless cultists. Pushed by the girl, he had named lots and lots of kids from the Garden. And none of them had the spark inside that could make them master their own destiny. Their being was utterly _shallow_ , like characters that had been written hastily by an incompetent writer.

And worse...most of them, most of those kids Hiro had known and named, were total weirdos. Ichigo, his first disciple, was affecting the manners of a housecat, never leaving her cat toy, sometimes purring, sometimes adding cat-like jokes or words in her speech, even, sometimes, calling herself _Ichinyan_. Had handmade cat-ears been accepted by the APE caretakers, she would have worn them at every moment...when her presence became too much to bear, even for him, he usually used a few scented dried leaves to lure her away. _Catnip_ , as the adults called it. Then, came Mitsuru, Code 326. A rambling kid unable to shut up about his "shallow connection", whatever he meant by this. In his best moments, he was able to spend the day normally, even if, in a display of self-doubt and total lack of will, he spent most of it asking Hiro what he should do next – his most pertinent question being about the possibility of farming cabbages in the future. In comparison, Goro, Code 056, was silent and offish, and was probably the most functional of the group – though he spend a fair bit of time being examined by one of the doctors of the Garden, a sultry lady who seemed to be fairy augmented by machines and implants. Goro himself, probably repeating what she was telling him during his check-ups, was sometimes trying to talk to Hiro about implants and nanomachines...whatever that meant.

There were lots of things that made no sense to Hiro – most of them were the stupid shit his own "friends" were saying. Had he the power to attract weird people, were they drawn to his aura like a moth to the flame? Maybe.

Miku, Code 390, was also some kind of clinic case, but in a gentler and less interesting way, as she seemed to be stalking Goro intensively, keeping notes about his behavior in an obsessive manner. Of course, Hiro didn't care. Then Naomi. And Ikuno. The first one was said to be one day Hiro's partner...with a Code 714, so that seemed like an utter waste. Would she even be able, once her pistil training over, to _start_ the FranXX, the war machines they would one day need to pilot to protect mankind? Codes so high were generally useless beyond the simplest tasks, and lots of them were pruned, or had a short fighting life and a messy death. Yeah, lower codes were supposed to be the best, and Hiro, besides his cat-worshipping disciple, had yet to meet a code lower than his own 016.

Moreover, Naomi was ranting too, this time about a "grandmother" or something...and Ikuno, Code 196, ranted about the nature of time and space. At least Zorome – Code 666 – was keeping to himself, as was the fatass Futoshi (Code 214), who had recently gotten a strange tatoo on his right forearm, shaped like a toilet seat. Oh, and of course, Kokoro. Code 556, who was already more promiscuous than any girl her age should be, promising every young stamen she would ride with them once her pistil training would be over, in a ride they would _never forget_. She also was mimicking a licking and sucking on the closest thing she could get her hands on, being a pencil, a banana, or, Papa forbid, a sausage.

Truly, a basket of deplorables, where no soul was truly salvageable. And, one day, it would be his job to lead these people to die for the greatest glory of their Papa. Such an horrible joke of a fate disguised as honor... sometimes, the sense of humor of APE could be a strange and wondrous thing. Maybe, if they truly wanted him to appreciate this position, they should start with the pruning of all these useless weird people. At least, today would be, they said, a special day, as Hiro would be introduced to some other tests, far from any meddling parasites. No _Ichinyan_ to follow him around and purr while scratching his back, no Kokoro trying to undress him. A little taste of heaven, right? If only he knew...He followed happily the caretaker tasked to take him to the lab, asking him, as always, a few questions about the tests, his day, his career, and everything. The caretaker started sweating, but didn't answer. Not his job, and he wasn't trained for this shit. _One kid_ in the Garden asked questions. _One._ This one.

After a dozen or so minutes, and as many questions from Hiro, they arrived to a little room near the main lab, probably destined to the caretakers and scientists' meetings. He opened the door, letting the caretaker going back to babysitting useless drones and teaching about the glory of Papa.

"So, you're the one they call the _Future Representative_ , right?" asked a soft voice coming from behind him.

Hiro should probably have been startled by this sudden interruption, but the tone was so nice, so gentle, that he felt no fear, and just looked at the source of this heavenly voice. A very good idea, as he found, as he could now gaze on the most profoundly beautiful creature he had ever seen. Her light blue hair, tied in a ponytail, looked so soft and silky, her skin porcelain white and without any blemish. And her eyes, oh _Papa_ her eyes. To Hiro, they shone full of light, full of life, full of that _soul_ he had been searching so long in the eyes of the other parasites. Mesmerized by these two teal wonders, he failed to acknowledge, for one second, the two little, alluring sapphire horns peeking through her hair – who only added their own perfection to the transcendant beauty of this delicious lady, a young woman who seemed to have a few years more than him, wearing an uniform he had yet never seen on caretakers and parasites alike. There was no other way to put it : she was _profoundly beautiful_.

He cleared his throat before answering, trying his best to make a good first impression on this celestial beauty.

"Yes, I am Code 016. You can call me _Hiro_ , if you prefer."

"Ooh, you gave yourself a name. How...interesting. I'm Code 005, by the way. I'm part of a... special parasite program. A bit like yours, but less focused on leadership and charisma, and more on special abilities." she said, coming closer to the young stamen.

"005...A little challenge. But hey, you're litteraly _oozing_ with sweetness. How about 'Honey'?"

She started laughing. A beautiful, oh so beautiful sound, which just made him want to hear more of it. She came closer to him, letting him get a hold of her mouth-watering scent of blueberry...she stooped to his level, her face now only a few centimeters from his, before she started talking again, her voice now more flirty, sultry, even with a _seductive_ edge.

"Looks like you even got a knack for naming other people, right, _Hiro_? However, let's stay serious for now, shall we?"

"I tried..." he explained, swallowing with difficulty as 005's smile and proximity was stirring something unexpected both in his nethers and in the bottom of his heart. "Anyway, why are you here? And how could I help you?"

"I was just scouting for partners, seeing as my own assigned partner was...not exactly a good one. He was sent away, and for now I'm alone. Seeing as you're supposed to be Papa's right hand to the parasites...You know, I wanted to check on you."

"I would be very pleased to be your...new partner, Hon-I mean 005." answered Hiro, his eyes shining with joy and light. "Of course, I don't know if I can...I mean, I'm supposed to be assigned as a stamen to Naomi, Code 714."

"Don't worry about that," she said, smiling and coming even closer, close enough for Hiro to taste her breath on his lip. "I have a few friends in high places, so I may be able to fix your problem. And then we'll be together forever, right?"

Even though she demanded formality from him first first, she herself was now breaking conventions, nearly touching him now, and Hiro couldn't help but blush at the proximity of this splendid young lady. For one second, she appeared to want to join her lips to his own, but after a while, seemed to decide against it, kissing his cheek and ruffling his fluffy black hair instead. Hiro just stood there, petrified, as she was leaving the room, winking and blowing him a kiss on the way out, letting him be sent back with the other parasites of the Garden.

Alright, that was weird. But not weird in the annoying, hard to understand, way that his "friends" managed to keep up most of the time – rather the weird that made him felt immortal and full of butterflies in the heart. It was like she was testing him, no… not testing, rather _checking_ him with some kind of a sixth sense, and decided to not yet proclaim her final judgement about him. Which, he hoped, should be positive.

Still, at long last, he had found _someone_. Someone that could be his equal, someone with will and intellect and self-awareness. Someone he could _like_. Because he definitely liked her, at least more than the whole group of cardboard cutouts with strange obsessions orbiting around him. She was nice, she was interesting, she was beautiful, she seemed to like him...and best of all, she was ready to become his partner, allowing him to stop being assigned to a code in the 700s. _Code 005_ , _really_? That would be beyond all his expectations for his fate. For once in his parasite life, Hiro was looking forward to the future he was supposed to live, especially with her. Happy as he was, he was smiling for the rest of the day, doing his best to not look annoyed when he heard, once again, Naomi trying to explain to him the very concept of tulpas. In his mind, he was already piloting with Code 005, _Honey_ as he named her, whose very thought was enough to keep him focused on the future.

* * *

It had been a few days since his meeting with Honey when Hiro was one again summoned by the caretakers. Surely something about her. After all, she promised him, right? And she wasn't a promise-breaker like Kokoro, who was, at the moment, trying to fondle one of the guards' legs, probably to gauge if this man could be a viable partner.

As he left his room in the Garden, the guard seemed surprised by his closed expression and lack of questions, even if Hiro's eyes were beaming with an unusual expression, something which looked like ecstasy. As he entered the lab, the young stamen was nevertheless shocked to see, not one, but two superb ladies, who seemed to be discussing his future. Honey was here, and the smile she gave him as he entered the room had the radiant quality of a sweet spring sunrise ; he couldn't help but smile goofily in return, weak at the knees at her adorable expression.

"Here you are, _Hiro!_ " she said happily, coming near him.

Once again, she seemed ready to hug him, but she managed to stop herself, just squeezing his shoulder. She wasn't such a tall girl, standing around five feet and a half, but she was still towering above him by a few centimeters. Once again, Hiro just stood there, his whole being hijacked by the feelings he had started harboring for the elite pistil, by desires he couldn't even begin to explain or describe. It was like something hidden in his blood had been awakened, drawing him closer and closer to this one horned girl. Even the simple fact that she had remembered his name was enticing to him.

"I was talking about you with Dr. FranXY right there about your very interesting potential and your wish to join me in the program. You...you are still alright with that, isn't it?" she asked, a little smile on her lips.

Of course, Hiro couldn't help but agree, everything in him screaming about staying with her. After gazing upon Honey a few seconds more, he focused his attention upon the second woman present here, that his friend had called Dr. FranXY. The brown-haired woman was herself a very beautiful one, but unlike 005, she seemed to be use her own beauty a lot more liberally, judging by her choice of garments : fishnet stockings, a lab coat lazily covering a deep and opulent open cleavage, and black high heels showcasing the length and shapeliness of her long legs. Her opulent body seemed to be heavily augmented...and then everything clicked into Hiro's mind : she was the one doing Goro's check-ups.

"I'm Dr. FranXY," she confirmed, "and I'm the head of the...program 005 mentioned, Code 016. I checked your data and see no sign that you shouldn't be allowed to join us. Although, as Code 005 may have not told you, I have to inform you that this training program is stricter and more intense than the original parasite program. You may be trained to unusual situations, and have to develop...unusual skills which may be useful on, once again, unusual battlefields."

Her voice was sultry and charming, and with every word she came closer to Hiro, until she was as close as Honey. Her last words were merely a whisper, as she stooped to his level :

"Are you sure you want to join?"

"Yeah, I'm sure of it. Also, Honey needs a partner."

Dr. FranXY giggled when she heard his answer, and extended a hand to caress his cheek, her fingers soft and ice cold upon Hiro's skin. She pinched his cheek, smiling :

"What a brave little stamen...Alright", she added while taking back her file on the table. "Starting from this day, you'll have new quarters with Code 005. You'll live with her, train with her, partner with her...and if your mission ever requires it, you shall die with her on the battlefield. Have I made myself clear?"

"Clear enough, Doctor." he answered, determined to prove his worth.

Another life was starting for him. A life where, he hoped, things could get a little better...

* * *

It had been a few weeks since Hiro had joined 005...or, as he liked to call her when they were alone together, _Honey_. Not that she didn't like it, or that he didn't like it, but he had seen strange expressions on the faces of grunts or caretakers when he started to use too much the names he gave, especially with his new partner. Naomi had taken the news quite well, just ranting about strange numbers and trying to give him a headache with her evil eye, but hey, at least now his problems with the rest of these strange people were over, right?

His new room, which he shared with 005, wasn't one of the usual dorms of the Garden, but a real bedroom, probably the same the important caretakers and lab doctors used. Of course, the fact that he shared it with the most sweet, charming, nice and intelligent girl he'd ever seen counted a lot in his appreciation of his new life.

The old tests he used to have every week to test his abilities were still there, but now his training was...different. It included more things than just piloting sessions in the training bot, as he was also trained to _a lot_ of different weapons. Rifles, pistols...he even got a few introductory courses on the use of mortars and other heavy weapons. And of course, a bit of CQC, for some extreme cases. His master for these close moments, _sempai_ as they said, was 005 herself – and although she seemed still as frail and gentle as ever in the tight skinsuit that covered them in these mock fights, she proved fight after fight she was harder than steel and sharp as a blade. Each of those ended inevitably with his defeat, for a few reasons : he was still smaller and weaker than her, she had years of training behind her belt, and, as stupid as it sounded, he didn't want to hurt her. Every time, she taught him something new, a trick to tip the scale towards his next victory – which would come one day, she was sure of that. Even if it would take a thousand defeats by her hand, he would live and win one day.

And, as strange as it sounded, he did once.

Her body pressed against his own, her chest heaving from the rough training, her face nearly touching his, her forearm against his throat...As they made eye contact, both of them definitely felt the attraction passing through them, like a spark of energy. Hiro, still trying to fight, felt her strength wane against him. Seizing the moment, the opportunity, he leveraged his entire body weight into trying to bring her down. Did she let him do it? He didn't know, but he met surprisingly little resistance in reversing the grapple, taking the advantage and straddling her. It was his first time winning against her, and he was now...confused about the next step. He saw Honey propping herself on her elbows, a hard to read expression on her pretty face. She stared at him, like expecting something of him – before coming closer and whispering in his ear. As always, her voice was sweet, and the words she said were as soft as her :

"Looks like you picked up a few tricks by yourself, Hiro. Now let me teach you something else...something a bit more _special._ "

"More combat-related stuff?" he managed to ask, lost in the immensity of her eyes, as she laughed gently and bumped her little blue horns with his forehead, as to mark him as her property.

"Not really, you little rascal. I really like you, you know. And _I think_ you like me. Drawn together by nature, right? So let me show you something you're supposed to do with the one you like the _most_..."

Finishing her sentence, she softly joined her mouth with his own.

Hiro had no words yet for this kind of things, APE education was definitely lacking in the department, but something originating from so deep in their hearts needed no name to feel right. For a split second, he stayed unresponsive, until he let her tongue dance with Honey's. They stayed there, united as one, for what felt like an eternity. Just as she let him go, he decided to take the lead, kissing her _hard_ , his unbridled passion making it up for the lack of skill and training in this area of expertise. Ending the kiss, he looked at her again, noticing a strange spark in her eyes.

"Hiro...that was...that was..."

"I'm so sorry, Honey! I'm not...I mean...It's just..." he spluttered, trying to get off her, before she grabbed his arm with a strange light in her eyes.

"You don't have to, Hiro. I liked it, and I guess you did it too."

Not letting go of him, she took him into a gentle embrace, letting his head rest upon her generous chest. She still needed to teach him that, and everything that could come after that. But the fact that he had been the one to start was a good point. A very good point, even. Maybe the future she had in mind could be reached much more quickly than expected. After all, she had been prepared for this moment for a long time... But that was a question for another moment: now her cute little soldier could enjoy the moment before meeting his fate. She did not know yet how he would fare once confronted to the truth, to his final destiny, but she knew he would do his best for her. She trusted him for this.

The training was over for tonight, and the rest of the evening passed without any problems. Honey was allowed to cook and prepare food for herself, as a privilege of her special program, and she was always eager to show Hiro the ways of the cook. So that both of them may feel closer? So that he may learn something new? Who knows? Anyway, he was her little helper as always. Even if the "little" point would most likely be moot anyway in a few months. CQC training and her cooking seemed to work their magic to develop his body into a strongest man. Well, maybe not "man" for the moment, even if Honey knew the time would come for that. For tonight, it was an old recipe predating APE by about a few hundred years, known as a _margherita pizza_. Tasty, simple, easy to share between two partners.

Everything was going smoothly, until the knife used by Honey slipped on the tomato she was chopping, cutting deep into her index finger instead. Hiro, who was preparing the _mozzarella_ , jumped to her side instantly as he heard her squealing in pain. Without ever thinking about what he was doing, as if an instinct had awakened in him, he put her finger in his mouth and started suckling away at the wound, like a kid with his pacifier. Her blood tasted like iron and copper, but behind the metal there was an aftertaste, something that felt like paradise, an intoxicating flavor which just made him want some more. As he was running his tongue along her nimble finger, he felt her moving gently his head so that he was looking at her. Where there should have been an expression of pain and discomfort, there was only a fire burning inside her blue gaze. A fire that spelled desire and affection, and everything else. Even her horns seemed to glow in the light of their room.

 _Bound by a kiss. Wrought with blood_. _All according to plan._

"Look at you, my little _hero_..." she whispered, slowly taking her finger out of his mouth. "The pain is all gone. What would I do without you?" she asked, flashing him a smile that beamed like the sun and the moon, like the lights of an unreached paradise, filtered only by the pearly gates of her lips.

"I'm pretty sure you would be amazing even alone." he answered, smiling too at his Papa-given partner, who motioned him to come closer. A few seconds later, she was holding him tight against her, using his fluffy black hair as a comfy little cloud where she was safe from the rest of the world. So happy, and yet so sad : because she knew this embrace would end.

"I'm pretty sure we should finish this _pizza..._ " she said, before letting him go.

Now his smell was on her body, and her smell probably on his own. How _lovely_. His male scent, still bearing a bit of his musk from their earlier training. Had he not restrained herself, she would have licked his cheek when he was still in the soft prison of her arms. Would he have liked it? Maybe, maybe not. She should wait for more appropriate times for this, not jumping at him and taking the risk of scaring him away. Anyway, the pizza was almost over. As it was cooking in the oven, _Honey_ looked at her finger. The wound was already healing, due to her healing powers and her... _special_ nature. One day, she would tell him the truth about that too. Even though he probably understood a bit about it – her horns were already a pretty big tell.

The _pizza_ was delicious. As Hiro was doing the dishes, his assigned pistil was preparing herself for a good night of sleep, taking her little treasure from beneath her bed and starting to read again. This story...ever since she had been gifted it after her arrival at the program, she had read it every night. There was something she couldn't explain about the feelings she had every time she looked at the words, every time she saw that witch picture. The story in itself was not very deep or very long : a beast princess, falling in love with a young human, giving her black wings to a witch to stay human with him, and finally disappearing to avoid hurting her beloved. As she was about to close the book, she saw Hiro's hand darting from behind her shoulder, preventing him from closing it.

"What a sad story. Looks like the writer had no idea how to continue after the first half and just...went with it."

"Hiro! You shouldn't startle me like this, you little devil." she laughed, surprised by his intervention. "Anyway, yeah, I have this book since I started training here. Never knew who gave it to me. I just know one day I'll have to give it away."

"We should rewrite it one day...once my training is over."

* * *

He opened his eyes, awaken by the sound of very peculiar utterances by his partner. Was she crying? Still hazy with sleep, he got up, before slowly coming to her bed. Honey seemed to be in the middle of a nightmare, or something. Not that Hiro knew how to react : the only one he knew who had dreams was Mitsuru, and they were, like him, _shallow_. He extended his right hand to reach her in the darkness of the room, before retracting it instantly when he found under his fingers the warm and curvy softness of a breast. Taking a deep breath, he tried to touch her again in a... _more appropriate_ place, to find, this time, the tender heaven of her flat, toned stomach. Was her whole nightgown discarded during the night, letting her sleep in the nude? That thought haunted him for a whole second before he felt her hand catch his right forearm in an iron grip, her eyes opening and glowing, like her horns, with a blue flame in the dark, as if she had awakened as a feral beast, ready to rip him apart. However, he felt no fear. Something in him made him feel at ease with her, even with her hand holding him hard enough to break his bones. Without a word, as her grip was loosening, he sat on the bed with her, holding her tight against him – helping her adjusting her slipping nightgown beforehand. Never before had he felt her so real, so soft and yet so strong against his chest, her own breath ragged and exhausted, her eyes wet with tears of fear. He didn't want to ask what her dreams were about – he didn't care. He cared about her feeling safe and sure in his arms, just like the way he felt when she embraced him. This time, there wasn't an ounce of carnal desire here. His desire to protect her was overwhelming as he felt her slowly coming back to her senses.

"Are...are you there, Hiro?"

"I'm here, Honey. I'll always be there for you. Don't worry." he answered, pulling her closer.

"Could you...stay with me tonight? Here, with me?" she asked, still in shock but calmer than before, her eyes and horns back to normal as she clutched to him tightly.

Hiro didn't answer, just pulling her lightly towards the bed. Lying here with her, he tried to kiss her cheek as a last goodnight gesture, but ended up kissing her horn as she moved out of the way at the last moment. He heard her trying to muffle an adorable squeal of surprise... but, as he expected her to roll away, she instead decided to cling to him even more, like he had seen Ichigo do with some of her stuffed cat toys. As he was closing his eyes, he heard her, in a gentle and tender whisper :

" _I love you, Hiro."_

The warm morning sunlight found them still in each other's arms, unable and unwilling to move, to talk, to think about anything else. Together, their world was complete: what else could the outside universe bring them that they needed? Nothing but trouble, nothing but pain. It was on this morning of spring that Hiro, for the first time, thought of a world where he wouldn't have to fight for Papa, a world where he could just...he didn't know, but that probably implied staying in bed all day with Honey. However, the day was long, and there was much to do. As he was about to get out of bed, once again Honey grab his arm. But where last night it had been a threat, now it was a tender gesture, an invitation to stay just a few moments longer. Something had changed inside him, but also between them, and he pondered that fact while intertwining his fingers with her own. How much? Only time would tell. After all, without her he'd probably be already making the field tests, with _Naomi_ as his partner. What a goddamn cruel fate.

* * *

Another few months had passed, nearly a year, and Hiro was having the time of his life. Every day with Honey was another blessing of Papa, from the moment he woke up in her bed in a tight embrace, to the one they jumped together back into the same bed. Each day, he felt more and more alert, stronger and tougher – now he was even able to best Honey in close combat about half of the time. His reluctance to hurt her was mellowed by knowing she was much, _much_ harder to hurt than she seemed. Even his strongest blows were often not enough to hurt her...however, she had yet to find a way to counter being grappled, tenderly hugged and roughly kissed. Something that came often enough that they had to agree to count it, not as her defeat, but as _shared victories_. Hiro loved sharing victories with his Honey...

However, as skilled and sharp as she was during their official meetings and training sessions, which were not all centered on sweaty, grapply, rough close combat, she turned back into the sultry, mischievous bundle of love and happiness Hiro knew and loved as soon as she was alone with him. After all this time, there was so much of her he knew about, little things and secrets he had discovered : how he could literally put her in a trance-like state by kissing her horns and patting her head ; how her kneecaps were both deathly ticklish and extremely _erogenous_ (her own words)– a little fact he had once exploited ruthlessly during a meeting withsome higher-ups, innocently letting one of his fingernails lightly dance on her knee until Honey was a mess ready to explode. Even weirder weakness, coming from a trained killer, she was...a bit clumsy with knives. She was an expert with her trusty pistol, but she seemed to let her guard down in the kitchen, not expecting, even after all this time, to be in danger from this kind of weapons. After all, her healing factor was pretty amazing, compared to Hiro's human nature. Luckily, her Hiro always was at her side, easing the pain and bandaging her with kisses and bandaids on the wound. It was a sign of caring rather than logic, but Honey loved Hiro and Hiro loved Honey – and through little gestures like these, they managed to deepen their bonds every day.

Today, however, was not any normal day. Dr. FranXY had contacted them a few days ago, telling them their first _field sortie_ together had been scheduled. Honey was a lot more stressed than usual, and Hiro had to stay at her side at every second of these days to help her with that. They had not really talked about the event, but she had told him her last field sortie with her former partner had been a complete and utter disaster. He really hoped to be good enough for her – in a FranXX, as he already knew they were made for each other – if he failed, he could not fathom going back to his previous life. However, a mere glance to her, and every fear, every doubt in his mind melted under the warmth of her smile.

 _With her at his side, how could he even think about failing?_

His hand on the doorhandle, he stopped suddenly, before taking her face into his hands and kissing her one last time, as if their very life was about to end abruptly. Both of them came back to reality red-faced and panting, but at the very least, a bit happier about their fate.

The hangar where their warmachine was sleeping was huge, obviously devised so that metal beasts a hundred meters tall could walk at ease. Keeping Hiro's hand into her own, the pistil walked up to Dr. FranXY, who was standing near a pervy-looking old man who was, if that was possible, even more heavily augmented than she was.

"Good morning, my dear...I've heard your training is going, well, according to plan?" asked the sultry doctor with a big smile.

"Don't worry, Doctor, everything is alright. Hiro right here has been the best partner I could ever dream of..." she answered.

"Code 016, right?" said the old man in his lab coat, squinting his eyes at Hiro before turning back to his colleague with a sigh : "Let's hope your little experiment was worth ruining mine...alright, kids, _Gladiolus_ is waiting for you."

" _Gladiolus_? Weren't we supposed to use...you know...the Nettle?" asked Honey, with a mix of surprise and relief on her cute face.

"The Nettle has been taken by... _You know who_ , when he was assigned to the southern front. We had to start from scratch to build another one adapted to your abilities, 005." he explained, his hands tightening upon the pommel of his chiseled cane. "Now get in the damn robot, son. Make us all proud of you.", he added, showing them their marvelous weapon.

With these words, both Honey and Hiro turned towards the metal giant : sturdy, powerful, dangerous, the thing towered over them like the giants of old, covered in teal scales that looked like the skin of a snake or the mail of a medieval knight...and like a knight's sword, a huge blade extended from _Gladiolus_ ' right arm, a few cables of steel protruding from it to fuel this sword during battle. In comparison, its left arm seemed huge and unwieldy...due to the fact the entire forearm was apparently a cannon, whose mouth sported six claws of metal for...well, probably undefinite battle purposes. But the robot had been designed like this for a reason, and that was not their role to question them, just to use it in battle against the klaxosaur threat. As they were seating themselves into their designated places, Hiro's curiosity got the better of him, and he asked to his partner, just before starting the test :

"Honey? Who was that guy with Dr. FranXY?"

"You know, you could have asked me directly..." answered the cranky voice of the pervy fossile, coming from the comms. "I'm Dr. FranXX, head of the parasite program, and Amanda's partner in this adventure to protect mankind."

"Partners as in...piloting, right?" he asked, startled by such an unexpected answer.

"Partners as in 'shut your little pie hole and kickstart that goddamn robot, kiddo'."

The order was clear, the discussion over, and the test could start. Hiro closed his eyes, letting his mind wander to find the way to Honey's soul. A second passed, before he heard her squeal. Then it hit him, like a crashing wave trying to drown him. Her spirit was everywhere around him, covering him like a comfy blanket of ecstasy, her depth unfathomable and her love for him indescribable. In that fleeting moment, they were one. Hiro felt himself coming back to his body, feeling a flow of energy react to his every thought. His fear crumbled in ashes as he allowed himself to smile. Of course they had managed to connect inside the robot. Together, they were one. Him, and his lovely horned girlfriend, his wonderful partner. The massive frame of the _Gladiolus_ around them started moving, as he piloted it towards the field, which from here looked like the usual desolation around the Garden, covered in thick winter snow. At the south of the facility was a forest, but they were now heading east, where another FranXX – a mass-produced, standard one – was already waiting for them, a standard-issue spear at hand.

"Good morning, Code 016. I'm Code 093, and I shall be your field instructor for today." The voice that came from the comms was deep and raspy, like expected of the field veterans of this caliber.

"Good morning, sir." he answered, focusing his attention upon the voice of this man, and of course, on the controls.

"Alright, young stamen, I know you've not yet been briefed about your tactical load, so listen, and listen well..."

 _What you got on your right arm is a state-of-the-art magma blade. Once powered, it's supposed to cut through...just about anything you wish to cut through. It also use a lot of power, so, when running, part of this power has to come from unnecessary shit. Like air conditioning, the cooling systems of the cockpit...so use it when you need it, and when you don't use it, turn it off ASAP. Also, important point, 016 : this is not a fucking toy. This is a weapon meant to crack the shell of the thoughest monsters on this goddamn planet : swipe it at your battle-buddy and you're probably going to disable his FranXX, at best. At worst, you're going to destroy it, kill the pistil, kill the stamen and leave nothing but a smell of charred meat behind._

 _Now take a look at your left arm : looks like a good old bludgeon, right? You're probably right, but that thing is your ranged weapon. Each shot sould be enough to send a Conrad-class back to his Mama, and probably maim or slow a Mohorovic-class one. It's condensed magma energy, so it_ of course _relies on your fuel, and if you ever strain it too much, you may get unable to come back without any assistance. You probably saw the little claws at the end : they're here for the Lock and Load maneuvers you will probably love during your numerous battles. In short, grab with the claws and, once inside, shoot your whole load at your prey. Even without destroying the core, that should be enough to incapacitate him for a while..._

As the man was droning on about his weapons, Hiro let go of the handles protruding from her behind, covered like the rest of her by her red skintight suit. He didn't know who managed to create a piloting system which needed _ass handles_ , but the person was probably an old decrepit pervert. However, Papa bless this person for creating a piloting system that allowed his gaze to long over his girlfriend's back without being judged for it. From her light blue hair, that she sometimes allowed him to groom...to her toned and curvy backside, full of strong muscles and yet so impossibly soft...a slight smile grew on his lips as he wondered if a suit which seemed so totally designed to accentuate her beautiful curves was a good idea for a pilot who was supposed to be focused on the battlefield. Right now, he just wanted to tell her to get up and come sit on his knees with her arms around his neck.

A siren. Red lights. What the hell.

"Well, Code 016, looks like the time has come for a little training session on the battlefield...A group of klaxosaurs is coming from the southern front, according to the scans. Probably Conrads...and maybe a Moho." explained his instructor.

"Alright..." whispered the young pilot, maneuvering the _Gladiolus_ once again. The unseemingly beast was reacting like a second skin, his piloting skills and connection with Honey being deeper and better than...just about any pilot's. A perfect fit for a perfect girl.

He could see them now. Around five Conrad-class. Or, at the very least, he could see the trails of dirt their race was producing. Something big was coming too...Probably the Mohorovic. With only a thought and a flick of the wrist, the left arm of _Gladiolus_ was armed and ready, until Hiro was ready to shoot. The recoil was weirdly manageable, compared to other personal guns he had used, and the precision of the shot was something out of this world, the bolt of magma power darting like lightning to strike down one of the beasts, making it explode mid-jump in a rain of blue blood upon the white ground. Hiro smiled, before firing two more shots. Both of them hit, both of them destroyed their intended targets. His smile grew wider. There was something intoxicating – and yet profoundly beautiful – in destroying these monsters with his FranXX. Three dead, still three to kill.

"Time to get close, Honey. Hope you don't mind a bit of close combat..." he told her, getting only a encouraging grunt as an answer.

The engines of Gladiolus started roaring like a dragon as he jumped into the fray, the beasts now less than a few hundreds meters...a dozen meters away...with a swift sweeping move, the closest monster had been dispatched by the searing blade, letting only two burning halves behind. So simple, so beautiful. Another strike, another dead thing on the ground, its core destroyed by the sheer violence of the impact. As he turned around, he saw for the first time the Mohorovic. The beast wasn't _that_ big, but it was at least two or three times bigger than his robot. Activating once again his big knife, Hiro jumped at it...

* * *

Now that he was out of the robot, he could process what happened. Was that really one of the dreaded Mohorovic-class Klaxosaurs? This thing could have destroyed the Garden...well, maybe not destroyed, there was always one or two squads here and ready to intervene. It had happened so fast. He had jumped on it, blade in hand and...and he had blacked out for a second, or at least what felt like a second. When he had come back to his senses, the thing was dead, and Gladiolus was back in the Garden's barracks.

"Is everything alright, Honey? I feel like I..lost consciousness for a while."

"Don't worry," she shushed him with a dreamy smile. "you were _amazing_."

"Feels good to hear that, especially from you." He commented, proud of the little red blush his remark triggered on the cheeks of his beloved parter.

He wouldn't lie to her and tell her everything was alright, as he still felt a bit dizzy after their field test. They quickly got out of the robot, meeting once again with FranXY and FranXX, who both had concerned looks on their face.

"Code 005, do you have a moment? We need to talk about the program. _Hakase_ will bring 016 back home." said the seductive woman, taking her with her.

"Of course. Wait for me to come back, Hiro." answered Honey, just before following her to another meeting room, letting her stamen and the old pervy-looking man alone in front of the war machine.

"So, how was your first ride?" asked said Hakase, hunched over his cane. "I guess you're not the kind with 'getting it up' problems, right? Especially not with this sexy dinosaur..."

"What are you talking about, Dr?" said Hiro, legitimely started. "I don't quite understand what you're meaning..."

"Well, I was doing one very good _double entendre_ , boy. First, you may not be aware of that, but your partner is part _klaxosaur_ herself. Didn't the horns tip you off?" He paused just long enough to squint his eyes at Hiro : "You remarked she got horns, right?"

"Yes, I did...so the horns are because she's part dinosaur?"

"Nice, you're not _totally_ stupid. The second point I was making while talking of a sexy dinosaur, is Gladiolus itself. One of my masterpieces, I must say. Quite a wonder. As FranXX – the robots, not me – are themselves built from klaxosaurs, it's a sexy dinosaur too. So, yeah, no problems getting it up?"

"Not at all, sir. It was...actually a very pleasant ride. I look forward to doing it again."

"Cool. We need parasites willing to risk life and limb to kill those beautiful creatures, who may or may not be horribly mutated remnants from an ancient empire protecting the magma energy which is maybe (and maybe not) some sort of life energy of the planet." That long explanation threw Hiro's mind off balance, as he struggled to find a way to answer to...this.

"Was...that a quick rundown, sir?"

"No, lad, just a shallow infodump. Follow me to my room, I may have a few candies for you. You must need sugar after that. Most of them do, even those with _very_ good codes."

Humming what sounded like an upbeat melody whose title was probably about a birdcage, the old man in a lab coat led him to a heavily-guarded zone in the Garden. Apparently, he was among the head honchos of the place, if not _the_ head honcho – even if, old and decrepit, he definitely didn't look like it. The guards and grunts serving as sentinels in the labs of the place, and the engineers and scientists carrying files and experiment results, all seemed to look at him like some kind of mad god, an omnipotent overlord ruling his scientific realm with an iron (but fair) fist. All of them bowed to him, this ancient fossil with a robot arm. How the mighty had fallen. And now, Hiro was following him to his own office for candy, fully oblivious to the risks that could come from such an act. After all, he was able to win in close combat against Honey, what could a frail old man do?

Well, it turned out the frail old man did nothing of such nature, as they were getting to his lab. Maybe his pervyness was just an act, pondered Hiro as _Hakase_ grabbed the twelfth ass of his journey. As they reached his place, a faint cry made him stop in his tracks.

"Sir, what was that sound ?" he asked, once again a bit startled.

"None of your fricking business, kiddo. Now stay there, I have a little monster to conduct unholy experiences upon in the name of SCIENCE." answered the old man, before jumping into the next room.

As the old man did not close the door instantly behind him, Hiro managed to see what was inside it, the source of the previous noise : a little naked red gremlin was strapped to a table by straps and other bondages, producing unarticulate and animal-like sounds. This creature was clearly not human. Her hair were a light shade of pink, her eyes two green orbs of pain and her mouth sported big fangs – oh, and her skin was deep red. Truly a profoundly weird creature, a whimpering broken soul attached on a torture rack. And yet, in its inhumanity, the _thing_ on the table still managed to be cute, like an abused puppy kicked in the ribs by its owner one more time. Well, to be fair it wasn't so much a kick in the ribs by an alcoholic but a weird scientist man using what looked like a cattle rod to prod her belly, delivering what was, according to her screams, the smell and the buzzing sound, high-voltage electric current. Without ever removing the electric stick, the doctor looked once again at Hiro, who was (metaphorically) shocked by the violence of the scene.

"What are you looking at, lad?"

"Is...what...that...why?" Hiro only managed to utter a few words before the old man cut him again.

"That? Nothing for her, lads. She's a dinosaur. Barely tickles her."

Hiro knew a bit about tickling, but where it could probably explain the little red monster's loud screams and writhing, there was no way in hell it would cause the sizzling burn marks and the heavy smell of burning flesh and ozone. He stood there a few seconds, looking with dismay at the doctor's smile growing larger and larger, still torturing the helpless thing on his rack. He weighed his options, and decided for the most rational and less soul-scarring path, turning 360 degrees and walking away to go back to his room. Right now, he needed his partner and a hug. A hug by his partner being the ideal.

 _What the hell was that?_

 _Who was that little demon?_

 _Why was the doctor tormenting it (besides_ IN THE GLORY OF SCIENCE OF COURSE) _?_

* * *

As he opened the door to his room, Hiro saw Honey reading on her bed. Well, on their bed. Apparently, judging by her being already in a nightgown and by her sly smile, she probably had other projects for the evening than just reading her little story over and over again. Projects that, once again, included him in her arms, as she was, after all, supposed to be a good little team player with her beloved stamen. However, seeing the blank stare and the mechanic behavior of Hiro, she instantly understood something was amiss. She only had the time to put her book back before she was rushed by her fluffy little hero, who embraced her as if his life was depending on it. Heh, even if that _clearly_ wasn't what she had in mind, she didn't mind him having his face buried in her generous breasts. Also, she could bury her own face into his generous _fluff_. More than ok by her books, as far as such trades were concerned. As he emerged from this comfy pillow of tender flesh, he managed to produce a slight, warm smile for his beautiful Honey.

"Thank you, I really, _REALLY_ needed that."

"I didn't knew piloting with me would put you in such a state..." she muttered, kissing his brow lightly. "You looks like you have seen a ghost or something."

"Well, it's not piloting, it's just...I stumbled upon one of Dr. FranXX's wretched experiments...and it wasn't exactly a happy sight."

Honey's face contorted into an angry scowl. She knew exactly what he was talking about.

"I know exactly what you're talking about. You saw Code 002, right?"

"Code 002?" Hiro was confused. This creature, this pitiful wretch, had a parasite code?

"Yeah. A little red thing, broken by years of abuse at the end of the good doctor. Does that ring a bell for you?"

"Of course. That was...utterly disturbing. I mean, how can Papa let something like that happen? Isn't there rules against this or something?"

"Who do you think asked the doctor to conduct this kind of experiments? He's one of Papa's favorite lackeys, after all, and it is by his order that he's working on these projects."

Hiro suddenly looked at Honey in the eyes, his own gaze feverishly burning with a new emotion. It wasn't love, it wasn't affection either – both of them were frequent when he was with his partner. It looked like determination and righteous indignation, the look of a man ready to ask for justice, and to right the wrongs of the world himself if he was denied. Vertuous anger, world-shaking fluffiness, unfathomable affection : Hiro was all of that, maybe more, and for this adorable combination Honey was starting to feel her ovaries flooding with unquenched desire for one who today, really looked like her _little hero_.

"You were like that too, once, right?"

"How did...he did tell you? This monster told you about the program?" That wasn't anger, only surprise and maybe fear. Fear of what? To be rejected? To be abandoned by Hiro?

"He told me you were part klaxosaur, and he also told me the red... _Code 002_ was one too. I know how to put two and two together." he explained, as she seemed to be on the verge of breaking down in tears. "Listen, Honey. If your past is so...painful that you don't want to talk about it, it's fine. If you want to share it with me, I'll be happy and honored to learn about it. I won't love you less because you once, too, were a little scared thing strapped to a torture rack..." he added, stroking his cheek.

"Th..thank you Hiro." she sobbed, once again hugging him tight. "One day, I'll...I promise you I'll tell you everything. About me, about 002, about everything, I promise."

The floodgates of her tears were now open, and this time Hiro was the one holding her against his male and virile chest. Was there anything more beautiful than a relationship where both were able to heal each other's fears and wounds through the old art of hugging? Well, they could have been having a wedding on the beach just like in her picture book, and then spend their days frolicking in bed, frolicking in the sea, in the woods and just about everywhere, then tending to their newly-formed family...but knowing Papa (and APE in general), none of these were _acceptable_ goals for him and his autocracy. Parasites were supposed to fight against the klaxosaurs, shed their last drop of blood for Papa and die a warrior's death on the battlefield. Not marry and have a peaceful life far away from battle. That was forbidden, both of them knew it. As special specimens, both of them had _a little_ more freedom than most of the parasites...a freedom that may prove more than enough for something, a plan that had hatched in 005's mind.

Hiro would know soon enough, but right now she needed more time. Well, that wasn't the only thing she needed right now, but her partner would probably be more than happy to provide her with everything else. Be it hugs, headpats, kisses, backrubs, nights of cuddling together – and, truth be told, he was becoming exceedingly efficient at every single one of them.

 _She loved him so much_.

 _Time to show him how much._

She took the lead abruptly, taking him by surprise and pushing him back into the bed, a strange light into her eyes. He deserved much, _much_ more than this life as a little soldier for Papa. He deserved everything she could give him, maybe more. Probably more. She kissed him again and again, her lips burning with an untold passion against his own, his head between her little hands. Honey broke the kiss for a few seconds, looking at his eyes : there was no fear in his gaze, only a burning desire he didn't know how to express. Bumping her horns against his forehead, she started removing his stamen uniform and whispered, directly against his mouth, her voice low and husky – nearly a moan :

"I think it's time to...teach you what comes after kissing."

 _ **[Now is the moment where everything fades to black because POSSIBLE AGE RESTRICTIONS and I don't want no FBI on my sorry ass]**_

* * *

"So, are you sure you want to do it, Hiro?"

"Honey, we already talked about it." he answered, once again verifying his package. "This...Code 002, whoever she is, is suffering like a dog in this lab. And not a pampered puppy. We can't abandon her." He paused, before lightly grabbing her shoulders, watching her beautiful face. "Also...she's like you. And I may not have been able to save you from your dreadful past, but I can try and save her."

"Alright. If you're so hellbent on going, then let me show you a few...things."

This discussion had started a few minutes earlier, as Hiro, after a long, steamy and memorable cuddling session, had decided to go and save the little wretched thing. What a _Hiro_. And Honey, like a gear of some thousand-years plan, had tried to stop him from this new goal of him. Of course, such behavior would be totally unexpected from her. Unless, wait for it, it was linked to a _fricking plot point_. And a real plot. Like, the in-story kind of plot, just like _a nefarious plot to control the world_ or _a plot to kill the president of the United States of APEistan_. And now, as this meta paragraph is about to end, she was about to tell him about this plot, while showing her partner a plan of the aisles of the Garden.

"One day, you would have been told everything about this." she told him with a smile. "But Code 002's freedom is one of the goals I had for you for a while. Or at least, if not her freedom, at least her meeting with you."

"OK, now _I_ don't understand..."

"There's nothing to understand for now, Hiro. Just a plan to follow...

And so she had explained to him what he needed to do. Go outside, reach the window to her prison with the nearest tree, break the glass of the window, save the little girl (?) and fuck off in the forest. Honey would have to reach Gladiolus, kickstart it and go in stampede mode to break out. Outside, she had promised they would tell him everything, once the three of them would have been reunited.

"Also, there's a little thing I need you to do, a little thing but...very important." she had told him, during their last embrace before the apocalypse.

"Everything for you, my love."

"Should Code 002 bleed, for whatever reason, find a way to ingest her blood."

"...Alright, that was totally unexpected. I mean, I can understand your own plan to save her but that's taking it at a whole new level." he answered, frankly disturbed, before feeling her grip on his arm tighten and an unusual spark dance in her gaze.

"It goes deeper and beyond me and you, Hiro. It's about fate and destiny. Once again, I'll tell you everything once we can reach...somewhere safe."

* * *

 _Ingest her blood_. Once again, what was this fixation of hers? Was it about biology, to awaken something in his body? Maybe. Since the day he had licked her blood, he was feeling better and better every day : smarter, stronger, quicker, more precise, more endurant...the list went on. Hell, he even was nearly as tall as her. That also may have been the product of training sessions with his partner. Maybe. Anyway, she seemed to have already a well-developped plan for Code 002's evasion, so that...blood part may have been part of her master plan. Also, Hiro wasn't really one to refuse her something, even something as strange as this. That thought and the memory of the red creature's torment were enough to sustain him as he was sneaking outside in the snow and climbing with his weapon one of the nearest trees, whose branchs were nearly hitting 002's window. He managed to do it, seeing through the window the poor thing sleeping on the ground, a brown ragged coat around her frail body.

Whispering a prayer to whatever could listen to him, he grabbed the gun that he had stolen, a few minutes earlier, to one of the grunts – now lying inconscious and maybe dead on the ground of the facility, and started shooting at the window, which exploded in a cloud of glass needles. He heard 002 grunting and growling upon seeing the window disappear and feeling the cold wind blowing in the room, and extended a hand to the red thing. Her big inhuman green eyes, glowing with curiosity and hope, opened wide when Hiro grabbed her gently, helping her to leave the room and holding her tight against him. A few minutes later, they were back down to the snowy ground, Hiro's new friend startled by...well, just about everything. She didn't seem to know anything beyond the boundaries of her little room and the cold and unpleasant labs of the Garden, and as such clinged to him like a frightened child – that she was, in a way. She was small, four feet and a half at most, even if her long red smooth horns, longer than Honey's had ever been, added a few dozen centimeters to her height. Her long pink hair was soft and silky, and even if she had a coat to cover herself in the icy weather, she was now barefoot in the snow. Hiro fixed that little problem with a pair of thick extra socks he had prepared in case of emergency, before goading the little one with him, thinking of what he would have done had he been a child trying to rescue her instead of a trained _special specimen_ who could have been the _PARASITE REPRESENTATIVE_. Probably use a heavy object to break the window and carry her around. Preposterous. As he holded 002's hand, he tried to talk to her, as she had yet to say a word to the stamen who had freed her from a life of pain and loneliness.

"So, you're Code 002, right?"

[unintelligible grunt of approval]

"I'm Code 016, but you can call me _Hiro_. That's the name I choose for myself."

[unintelligible grunt of curiosity at the idea of a name]

"You would like me to give you a name?"

[unintelligible grunt of approval, again]

"Okay, what about... _Oni_ , nah, you're already a little red demon, no need for you to have such a name. What about Zero Two?" Hiro was clearly not in the right mood to give a name to the klaxosaur hybrid, and yet he thought this could be the easiest way to break the ice. Well, metaphorically.

"Eo To?"

"Yeah, I know, not exactly my best work here."

"Eo To? Eo To! EO TO!" The red goblin was seemingly extatic at the new name she had been given, showing Hiro a big wide smile with _a lot_ of big teeth and fangs inside. She was now jumping in the snow, producing sounds akin to those of a very happy retarded child. _Eo To_ was probably the only way her toothy mouth could pronounce her name. Probably.

"I'm happy you like it. Let's go, Eo...err.. _Zero Two_."

Honestly, seeing the little monster prancing around in the snow, now eager to discover more about the world around, was heartwarming for the young stamen. Himself never had a very free childhood, but it still had been better than Eo To's life, who was discovering for the first time the world around. Hiro showed her the trees and the bushes, and the little rodents who were still roaming the snow – some of them attracted the little red one's attentions, as she started stalking two of them when he wasn't looking. He still managed to find her before she choked on them, forcing her to spit out the (still living) creature.

"What am I going to do with you..." he pondered, looking at her trying to catch a fish in a small pond. The water was not frozen yet, but it still was cold enough for her to hiss and retract her hand.

"Eo To!" she squealed once again, looking at him smiling like he was the biggest piece of candy she'd ever seen.

"Yeah, come here you little thing. We need to find Honey." he told her, a slight smile coming easily to him as he motioned her to come closer.

"Oonii?" asked the gremlin, tilting her head with curiosity. After a few seconds, she ran and jumped towards Hiro...before slipping on the snow and falling on the ground.

As Hiro, always the nice guy, helped her get back to her feet, he saw her knee had been bruised by the fall, leaking blue blood. He remembered the words his partner had told him. _Should Code 002 bleed, for whatever reason, find a way to ingest her blood_. She didn't even pay attention to it, seemingly much more resistant to pain than expected. Well, except from Hiro, who had saw her survive electric shocks which would have killed a cow. _A cow like Kokoro, heh_. He smiled once again thinking of the other losers, from Mitsuru to Goro, to Ichigo and Futoshi, and, yeah, even Ikuno and Naomi. He had traded a future as their leaders against a girlfriend, an escape from Papa's clutches and a tiny red toothy kobold. _One of the best ideas of my life_ , he thought while stooping to examine her wound. It was a tiny flesh wound, with only a few drops of blood showing, and Eo To's inhuman resilience was already closing it. Kneeling before her, he scooped a bit of blood with his finger before licking it, obeying to his partner's _grand design_. His face contorted with disgurst – the blue blood was bitter and tasting of metal, iron or copper maybe. A weird and clearly not human blood, for a weird and not human girl. However, seeing Hiro in this position before her, Eo To squealed with delight, before taking his hand and taking him to the biggest tree around. As they were sitting under its branches, she got from under her coat what seemed to be a...book.

 _Holy hell._

This picture book was Honey's...well, at least it looked like Honey's book. Probably another copy. Anyway, for having read it with his girlfriend a few times, he knew exactly how the story was going...but he still was surprised to see Eo To, opening the book to the page showing the prince of the story kneeling in front of the princess during their marriage, point to the royal character as if his importance was crucial right now. Well...besides being married. Clearing his throat, Hiro took his best reading voice and started to read for the little red monstergirl.

" _And then, the prince kneeled before the princess and asked her to marry him..._ "

"Awwi?" asked Eo To, cutting him in his reading. She seemingly didn't knew the word, and he had to explain :

"Marriage is what happens when two people promise to stay forever together. Like the prince and the princess, in the book." _Or like me and my partner_ , he thought to himself, but he decided to stay silent on the subject with Eo To.

"Awwi? Awwi!" she answered, trying to cuddle with him. He couldn't help but laugh as the red goblin hugged him, smitten with love for the only human being to show her a bit of compassion and affection.

"Yeah, maybe, once we get out of here." he answered, patting her head.

After all, there would be time to think about it, right?

 _Right?_

* * *

" _Yeah, that could be a good time to intervene_..." commented a shadowy and mysterious figure looking at the screen from his comfy seat. Nothing could be known of this anonymous creature, who could be just about anything as long as it creates a sense of dread and unease to the reader.

" _Just a few seconds more_. _Such a sight is so rare nowadays. Besides, he deserved it for evading us for so long..._ " answered an undisclosed acolyte, probably subservient to the first one.

" _Hmm. Alright, full assault in 30 seconds._ "

And, just like that, hell spilled on earth.

* * *

A few seconds earlier, Hiro was comforting the little red gremlin. Now, he was trying to survive under a rain of bullets as Papa's grunts were just about everywhere. It was only by pure luck that he had survived the first onslaught...well, luck and skill honed by months of training. He fired back a few shots, managing to take down a couple of soldiers before having to cower back to cover, where Eo To was already shivering, her face torn into a mix of rage and fear. He checked quickly the time on his watch – Honey should have already joined him. Her part in the plan was to steal _Gladiolus_ and, activating the stampede, join them so that they could get the hell out of Papa's reach. Did she manage to do it? Did she _at least_ survive this mission of hers? Too early to tell but Hiro already knew what would happen if that was the case. Well...no, he didn't. He refused to even _imagine_ this possibility.

A few shots more, a few more down. How many of the grunts were now bleeding on the ground? He didn't know. How many of them had been fondled by Kokoro during guard duty? Probably all of them.

However, a gigantic roar was heard a few seconds later. Hiro smiled, as he knew what that would entail. _Gladiolus_ was coming...or at least, the draconic beast of metal and hatred that _Gladiolus_ had became. The mythic stampede mode was famed during the parasite education as an example of what _not to do_. Most FranXX were unable to activate without both a stamen and a pistil acting as pilots for the robots...but in some emergency cases, a pistil alone could override this need and act alone, burning through her life force to awaken the FranXX and provoke the stampede : during these occasions, the robot... _mutated_ generally into some kind of quadrupedal beast, whose true potential was greatly hindered. That state could prove fatal to the pistil and as such was only supposed to happen in some extreme cases. However, Honey was among the lowest tier of Codes, and her piloting potential was supposed to be one of the greatest ever seen – as such, she was trained to be able to stampede without lasting damages. Probably a side effect of her dinosaur origins.

Nevertheless, even if she could reliably enter stampede without dying a horrible death, Honey still seemed to be in a bad situation. A few mass-produced FranXX were following Gladiolus, probably a rapid response team or just a squad of parasites on the field who managed to follow her. And though his partner's piloting skills were quite sharp, it didn't seem to be enough to escape some of their shots, her FranXX already showing quite a few bruisings and marks. Hiro swore quite a bit, before reloading his stolen gun and shooting another volley, sending another couple of grunts to the ground. Luckily, his shoot-out seemed to have drawn the attention of Honey and her mech, who landed with difficulty a few dozen meters away from him, knocking a few trees in the process.

A few dozen meters of open ground. A perfect way to get killed or maimed by a shot from one of the grunts. As he pondered his options, he saw the hatch of the FranXX open, and Honey got out. His heart jumped into his chest as he saw her, in her skintight uniform, grab a pair of pistols and gun down the nearest opponents with deadly precision. Using the cover she provided him as he could, Hiro started running...and, after a few meters, fell to the ground as his leg was grabbed by an unknown player on this deadly – well, especially for the nameless NPCs who composed most of Papa's forces – battlefield. As he turned back, he understood instantly what happened : Eo To, the little gremlin, had grabbed his leg with the intention to hold him back, as if she didn't want him to leave. He heard her screaming :

"Awwi! AWWI!"

A shot. Two shots. Two probably destined for his skin, as – Hiro hoped – the guards wouldn't try to shot the red goblin down. Well, tough luck : Eo To fell to the ground without a sound, as Hiro himself felt a bullet graze the skin of his neck, like the red-hot burning brand of a master slaver, and managed to swallow back a scream of pain. Was the little thing dead? His gut, his mind, and his total ignorance of the rules of the plot such as Chekov's gun told him _Yes, she's dead, now go save Honey or something_.

But, at last, he was free to rush towards _Gladiolus_ , his heart pounding to his ears. Fourty meters. Thirty. Twenty. Honey was reloading her weapons. A shot. A lucky, precise shot. She fell through the robot's opened hatch as Hiro was reaching her, nearly falling on top of her.

"I'm back, Honey..." he managed to whisper as they both got up, him exhausted and her seemingly wounded.

"Don't worry, I'm alright." she ensured him, before assuming the pistil position on the piloting station, a groan of pain betraying her little lie as Hiro took his rightful place.

 _ **He was gone. Her savior. Her prince. The one who rescued her from her little cell. He was riding away in this metal beast now. She knew this damned thing. The one with the coat, the torturer, he would speak about it sometimes. He would tell of her "kindred spirit" and of "gigantic masterpieces" while trying to test the limits of her mind and body through pain and agony. Now her prince was gone. Running away from her. Just like in her book. She had nothing left from him, nothing but his name and his face, burning forever in her mind. She would find him. Whatever it took. Her...stupid...knightly**..._ **Hiro**.

Hiro only had one piloting session with the gigantic robot – but his skill in the training bot was downright without equal, even in the old times when he still was supposed to be partnered with a 700+ code with psychic delusions. Gladiolus roared once again as he adopted his usual shape of a knight, his magma blade burning red in the cold air of the morning...just in time to destroy one of the mass-produced FranXX diving on him, driving the blade through his thick armor like an axe through _papier mâché_. Code 093 had been right : this let nothing behind but waste and desolation, the screams of agony of the pilots resonating through the comms of their camarades. However, that didn't seem to deter one of them from attacking from behind, trying to hit Gladiolus in the back – and, underestimating the speed of the metal beast, he got grabbed by Hiro, who plunged his robot's claws into the chest of his new prey. His feral grin widened as the arm cannon roared into a mighty volley, piercing its prey through and through and ejecting most of the captive robot like a broken ragdoll. However, the barrage of barrage shots from the others was enough to shake Gladiolus, each one of them taking its toll on Honey. Connected as she was to the mighty FranXX, its pain was her own, and even him, focused on the battlefield, couldn't help but understand she was a lot more grievously wounded than she would let him know. He decided to flee – killing more people here, as satisfying as it would be, would only increase the risks of Honey getting hurt even more.

He didn't notice anything but a sudden drop in connection strength. Where previously he was nearly one with his partner, he felt her mind disappearing – and not in the _good_ way of their loving connection, more in the _bad_ way of her soul drifting to whatever happened after one shuffled off this mortal coil and joined the choir invisible, so to say. Closing his eyes, Hiro focused on the ever-shallowing connection, trying desesperately to get a hold of her consciousness. He just _knew_ he couldn't let her go. He wouldn't allow it. As he breathed deeply, he suddenly felt a sharp pain inside his brain as he made contact with another consciousness. Something alien, inhuman, connected to the mind of Honey.

 _She's going to die_. _I can save her. Accept my gift_.

Could it be linked to the cryptic comments of the Doctor about FranXX being _built from klaxosaurs_ , themselved being _horribly mutated remnants from an ancient empire_? Could it be that this robot had a embryonary consciousness, something that Honey – and every pistil, for that matter – had to connect during the piloting sessions? Blissfully ignorant of the "the robots were alive all along!" trope in mecha animes, this came as a goddamn surprise to Hiro. Also, no-one ever taught him stamens could connect to this consciousness, let alone communicate with it. No that it mattered to him at the moment : saving her was all what mattered.

 _Take her place. Seal the pact. Join us._

Giving himself fully to this mysterious voice, Hiro felt a flow of liquid fire...or was that ice?...running through his veins. Numb to everything, and yet omniscient. His connection, his senses, everything around him shifted in a cold and calculated rage. The hatred, the fury, the supreme rancor, the bitter madness the spirit inside the robot had bottled for so long, everything was channeled through him in this moment. He was Gladiolus, and Gladiolus was him. The chorus of annihilated souls inside the thing, remnant of every klaxosaur that had been broken by the creation and use of the special FranXX, nearly overpowered him. He didn't see his own eyes change color to blue orbs of hate and anger, and only the specialized tests of the APE labs could have understood his change in piloting potential.

 _Tit for tat, human. She will live. We will do wonders together._

 _Now, kill them all._

Hiro didn't know who roared, between him or the FranXX, who had been repurposed into a mighty winged dragon, his tail a deadly burning blade and his mouth bearing a flaming, screaming death. In this second, he didn't care about anything but blind slaughter, a want, a _need_ born from Gladiolus that he had been happy, to save Honey, to make his own. So let the rampage begin, and let the blood flow, as this day was made for vengeance and devastation. One last time this day, Hiro grinned widely, reveling in this new existence.

 _Kill them all, indeed._

* * *

By most accounts, the Cosmos flying fortress was one of the jewels of the APE reign. Shaped as a ring and flying around low orbit, it was supposed to be able to destroy any klaxosaur trying to reach it. The technology used to power it was weird and ancient, coming from times before their rise to power, before the time APE discovered the secrets of Magma Energy. In its center, the supreme leaders of the united humanity were now meeting in their room, each of them on comfy chairs, using comfly blankets over their ceremony uniforms.

At the end of their room, sitting upon a higher, raised throne, sat Papa, the leader of these seven masters of mankind. He was the one who, centuries ago, had united them, to lead mankind to their final goal of ultimate freedom. Under his mask, his face was one of annoyance and spite, as all of them, gathered, were looking at the footage and analysis made of Gladiolus and his... _oh so special_ stamen during his escape.

"So, what is actually happening here?" asked one of them. "I mean, I can understand the battle, but the shapeshifting?"

"Apparently, he managed to stampede his FranXX...as a stamen." explained his colleague at his left. "So clearly...unless Werner's research is wrong, he became a negative code."

A cold silence welcomed this sinister fact.

"Is that even possible?" asked a third one, who was clearly a woman under her mask.

"According to Werner's theoretical work, it is. Also...the report here informs us that he managed to break Code 002 out of captivity. This project should probably be monitored more closely...I mean, Werner's a genius, but I'm not sure he should be fully trusted for his experiments."

"Agreed. We should also see about the project 004...now that 005 has deserted with Gladiolus." agreed the one who had been the first one to talk.

"Talking about sensitive shit..." began Papa, his hand raised to get a bit of attention from everyone. "If 016...well, _Minus_ 016 is now missing in action, we need to take every measure to deal with him. We can't bring back the roman numerals, and we don't have any other negative numbers."

"So, big trouble, right?" asked another commander, this one with a gorilla mask and a strangely metallic voice.

"We don't have any other choice, gentlemen. We need to bring the Nettle back from the frontlines."

Another silence took place, even colder and more sinister than the previous one.

"Are you sure? I mean, that's Code 003 we're talking about. Can't we just rope in the Nines and call it a day?"

"No way fag, this shit is Mondai Nai, yo." told the closest one to Papa, who sported a massive pair of sunglasses above his monkey mask. "We need a _Parasite Representative_ and shit, my nibba." That was his last sentence before he started freestyling, rapping upon the sound of Papa beatboxing besides him.

"Alright folks, then we call the Nettle and we just hope he didn't start cutting himself again or something..." tried to conclude one of the members of the council as Papa's advisor was still droning musically about being "Straight outta VIRMton" and "Fucking the meatbags", whatever that meant.


	2. Chapter 2

_Beyond Numbers – Chapter 2 – GRASPING THE NETTLE_

It was a cold, cold morning, even under his dark grey caretaker coat. The wind was blowing all around him, and yet he refused to retreat into the building. Retreating now would be admitting defeat, it would be a first sign of weakness on this day. Something he couldn't afford. Not today. Not with what was happening. _He_ would be here soon, and _he_ would be greeted with all the strength his hosts could muster. After all, the Nettle was not someone to show weakness to. Some had painted him as a mad dog, a monster, a creature of swirling darkness just waiting to paint the world red with the edge of his anger and hatred. Some told about strange and uncanny tales surrounding him, about how this being was as much machine as man, about his unparalleled talent for killing. For the military brass, and the FranXX pilots, he was a perfect _boogeyman_.

 _Stand the line, hold your ground, kill klaxxosaurs. Or I swear to Papa I will call the Nettle._

How many had told these words on the battleground, during these years where he had carved his bloody path across the world? How many had been pruned, when the elite... _asset_ made his report to the higher-ups in the Council? Hundreds ; probably more. How many pistils, mere fodders for him, had been consumed by his...nature, drained of their life to fuel his powers? But today, was there any better option at hand than to use a monster to destroy a monster? Thinking about all of this, the man sighed. For years and years, he had been one of the most loyal caretakers of the Garden, a man who, for all around him, was the perfect emotionless right-hand man – and yet, into his brain numbers spinned around and ideas formed into a complex weave of plots and plans, a gigantic three-dimensional spider web. Where the young pistils and stamens received a code based on their piloting potential as only identification, him was supposed to be a caretaker in one of the plantations. As such, he was only designated as _Hachi_.

 _Hachi. Eight._

He heard the faint sound of the aircraft before he even saw it – and yet, the thing was _massive_. It took nearly ten minutes before it even managed to land – ten minutes he spent trying to prepare for his first meeting with the trained killer. Possible scenarios were dancing in his head, silently rehearsing – most of them purely diplomatic, but a few of them taking into account the unstable part of anger and shadow found inside the tormented soul of the Nettle. Seriously, though, how do you deal with someone who had once managed to kill a klaxx – well, a Conrad-class one, but still - without his FranXX? As the hatch opened, the caretaker took note he had been standing there, still as a rock, for about one hour, and took a deep breath, ready to welcome the legend.

 _Code 003_.

His young but well-defined, muscular body was covered by a stamen suit, a red so dark it seemed nearly black, just like his piercing eyes, glowing with unadulterated arrogance. The skin of his face was white, paler than the full moon of a spring night, and yet without any blemishes ; his hair, dark as a summer storm, mimicking the lightning strikes in their spiky nature ; and over these, he wore a crown, a wreath of silver and steel sporting two sharp purple horns. Everything in him screamed : _External Perfection – Internal Corruption_. Around his neck, a golden clasp was holding a dark cloak, black on the outside and deep red on the inside, now floating in the wind as he was slowly going down the loading bay, a living figure of _nonchalance_. At his waist, two long, curved swords, clad in dark blue leather, waited for an opportunity to shed some blood for their haughty master. This young man, nearly as tall as Hachi, was compensating by his uncanny grace and superior charisma – truly a man who could command respect from anyone, be it commander or simple parasite.

 _A princely stamen with a crown of horns. As deadly as he was beautiful._

Only a few meters were separating them as Hachi spotted the retinue of the newcomer. On two long lines, tens and tens of pistils were following in perfect order, their eyes soulless – automatons moved by his orders, like cattle for the slaughter. No doubt all of them knew what would happen to them once they would ride with the dashing young stamen : a quick, but painful death during the third ride, as their life would cease under the weight of his burden. _Pistil-Killer_ , they called him. Monster or hero, most of them did it willingly, ready to trade their life for a chance to contribute greatly to Papa's great plan. All of them would die eventually – it was up to him to make their deaths meaningful.

"So, you're Hachi, right? Thought you'd be taller."

Had the caretaker been able to express his emotions in a normal, human way, he would probably have laughed to the stupidity and sheer triteness of the comment, seeing as he towered over the stamen. It would probably have been a mistake too – and Hachi was not one to make mistakes for the sake of it. His best bet was probably to stay respectful and not react to the juvenile taunts of the Partner-Killer. He, and the council, still needed him to take care of Hiro ; then the _special specimen_ could go back to the frontlines and continue inflating his already massive kill count.

"Welcome to the Garden, _Code 003_. I hope your journey back here was pleasant."

"Cut the bullcrap. I'm here to kill, not to chat, so point me at your target and don't stay in my way."

003's voice was expressing a curious mix of anger, hatred and contempt, though it was hard to decide how much of these were directed at Hachi. His hands were twitchy on the grips of his swords, and his eyes narrowed into two slits as he tried to gauge the reactions of the emotionless caretaker. After a few seconds, he seemed to relax, crossing his arms on his chest, even if his gaze still displayed the arrogance of the youth.

"Fine. You want to brief me, right? Alright, I'll play along. For now."

Hachi just nodded his head slightly, before motioning the Nettle to follow him. After a little silence, he started speaking again, explaining to him the dire situation they were in.

"You have to understand we would never have called you back from the front if the situation wasn't both extremely dangerous and totally adapted to your...set of skills. You're APE's best agent currently, and the threat Code 016 poses to our security and continued existence is probably a challenge worthy of your power."

The Partner-Killer stopped dead in his tracks.

"So you're telling me...you guys got your panties in a bunch because a lone parasite got AWOL?"

"Wait until Hakase tells you the whole situation, you may understand better the depth of what is at stake right now."

* * *

"As Hachi probably told you, the situation is indeed frickin' dire, boy." mumbled the old scientist. He was leaning on his cane, trying to rouse a bit of interest in the special stamen, who was brooding in the darkest corner of the room. As he finished his sentence, 003 jumped towards him, an angry look upon his face.

"Don't call me..."

"Boy? I created you, you edgy queer. Remember this and shut the fuck up or I'll swear to Papa I'll shove this cane up your ass in less time than it take to shout SUBARASHII."

He only had the time to finish before 003, drawing his curved swords at breakneck speed, managed to have both of the edges pressing on the throat of Dr. FranXX, apparently stuck into his " _Yeah, I'm not going to give the slightest fuck about this angsty teenager with deadly weapons._ " setting. Arching an eyebrow, he stared down said angsty teenager, who breathed heavily as he seemed to be preparing to kill him.

"May I continue?"

After a few seconds, 003 sheathed his weapons, before returning to sulk at his place, looking angrier than ever before. _How could this old man disrespect him so much? Was it so hard for him to give him the respect he deserved?_

"Good. In the case you don't know it yet, your enemy...or _target_ , or _prey_ , as you want to say...is a stamen, Code 016. He managed to escape with one of the 000-Codes, his FranXX, and his partner. She seems to have been...neutralized during their escape, and we retrieved the experiment subject, but 016 achieved what we thought impossible. He managed..."

With a pause to mark the inherent drama, the doctor finished his sentence.

"...To stampede his FranXX."

"I don't see the problem here." confessed 003, a bit confused by his explanation.

"That's because you're a goddamn stupid faggot." Hakase explained calmly, with a glance at Hachi who was waiting at the door. "Stampeding is supposed to be impossible for the stamen, only pistils can do it. _Girl power_ , and everything. That means Code 016, or _Hiro_ as he called himself, has become a _Negative Code_.That should answer your questions about why you got called back from the frontlines."

"What's a 'negative code' supposed to be, old man? Some kind of joke?" spat the partner-killer, unable to brood properly with the weight of this infodump.

"That's what happens when you take a Positive Code – like you and the others – and put a minus in front of it. Seriously, did you sleep during your math courses? Anyway, that means he's probably _much_ more powerful than a normal FranXX user, probably better than you too. So a bit of caution, right? Take _Urtica_ , take him down, and bring me his body, dead or alive. You have your mission, lad. Try to not fuck it up."

"Don't worry, old man. I _always_ defeat my prey. Oh, by the way, who was his partner? Some useless pistil, probably, seeing as he had to fight alone, as you say."

He just saw the doctor smile before his answer struck him with the strength of a ton of bricks.

"Your former partner. The charming 005. Hiro called her _Honey_ , I've been told..."

There was nothing more to say, and 003 stormed out of the room, a maelstrom of thoughts swirling into his mind. _How the hell did he let this senile fucker alive after what happened? Why was it so hard to unleash the full brunt of his unbridled rage, akin to the burning fury of a green sun of hatred, upon the one who gave him life? It's the common destiny of all monsters to destroy their creators, and this one, this pathetic foul-mouthed pedantic scientist, would not be genre-savy enough to escape his gruesome fate._

 _One day he would pay. The Nettle would make sure of that, and..._

 _005\. Not only she was alive, but she was with this...rebel. And he had given her a name. The only pistil he fancied, because she was the only one supposed to be strong enough for him. Her rejection had been...painful, to say the least. And this "016" had given her a nickname._ Honey _. How fitting for her, who was the sweetest thing he ever met – and as such, a fitting partner for the legendary Nettle. This story was becoming quite...personal indeed. He would get 005 back. He would break every bone of the insolent maggot before killing him._

 _Code 016 had succeeded where the Partner-Killer had utterly failed – and for this kind of insult, there could be no mercy._

 _First killing_ Hiro. _Then getting her back. Then kill the old man. Simple enough, right?_

* * *

"Do you think the little bastard will be able to do it?"

"I don't know, _Hakase_. He's probably our best pilot, but he's a bit...difficult to control. The sooner he tries to take down Hiro, the better. Anyway, I started making the preparations for the fallout. Whether 003 wins or fails doesn't matter in the end : what matters is our plan."

"Don't worry about this, big guy. I already decided to restart the 9-Initiative when I learned about the breakout. Even if 003 decides to reincarnate as a bloody smear on the ground, at the very least I'll have a few backup keys for the next part – however long it may take."

"What do you mean, however long it may take? The Nines are alive and kicking, aren't they?"

The doctor sighing painfully was his only answer, before he decided to explain himself.

"I _may_ have abandoned the 9-Initiative after 003 and 005 showed their...abilities, and used the funding on more interesting things. After all, if both of them were able and ready to be used, no need for more, right? I also, well, _may_ have faked a few reports about their battlefield efficiency. So I'll have to explain to the guys how their favorite team of enforcers got destroyed against this lone stamen-stampeding _negative code_. What a fucking shame. Oh, and I'll have to tell them to increase the fundings. These fuckers don't know how much a good clone costs."

"Do you need some help for the reports, Hakase?"

"Nah, don't worry. Go and monitor the boy. With a bit of luck, he won't try to kill someone for looking at him wrong, this time. I'll prepare the things for the council. Go!"

After a few seconds, Hachi left the room, pondering about his options. If the Nines were indeed _officially missing_ – or never existed, as the old man just revealed – that was a big problem. They would have been a tremendous asset for their plans. An elite task force, with special FranXX, and special uniforms, and special power over the existing population of parasites...tasked to prune every rebelling parasite before they could represent a danger or reproduce ; these clones should be his finest warriors, the ultimate bulwark of mankind. Even then, he wasn't sure this could be enough to stop any future rebelling stamen going stampede, but at the very least they could maintain a much needed order in the plantations until the end. The New Nines would be a mere pawn in the cosmic chess game...but, sometimes, you only needed a pawn to get the queen to bow down.

* * *

 _A few minutes later_ , _in the Garden_.

All of them were ready for battle. His partners. His wives – at least, that's how he called them. The truth was more insidious – _slaves, fodder_ for his ruthless crusade against the klaxxosaurs. All of them supplied by Dr. FranXX and his unending influence on APE. All of them supposed to stay strong for _him_ , and in return he would ride with them – until the moment when, in their last dying breath, he would carry their souls himself before Papa's throne. He had brought thirty of them with him – more would have been a burden, and the Nettle had no patience for burdens. Now all of them were gathered here, each one wearing the red pistil suit showing how much they belonged to him. A royal guard...or a harem. If he had to ride to battle here and now, one of them would have to volunteer for a dreadful first ride with him. His last pistil, Code 329, had recently died during their third and last ride, her body mangled beyond recognition by the inhuman nature of 003's piloting. Luckily, she was nice enough to wait until the end of the skirmish to die, and no other pistil had to be drafted that day – distracting the Nettle from the killing with pesky logistics considerations was something to be avoided. In fact, distracting him from the killing was something to be avoided, whatever the reason.

The door opened – it was _him_. Every girl in the room instantly stood in attention, ready, or so they thought, for the legendary stamen. His gaze was more heinous than usual, and his face seemed twitchy, barely concealing the fury, the madness, burning in his unstable mind. 003's wrath and bad temper were as well-known as his sinister charisma and his skill without equal when it came to murder klaxosaurs. He took a deep breath while looking at his army, his _partners_.

 _Sheeps for the slaughter. One more, one less, what importance? Nothing for him. Nothing for the world. Their only fate would be to die for him. Faceless blobs of flesh without any agency, without anything to offer but a fleeting connection to his FranXX. Marely a way for him to kickstart Urtica and lose himself into the clarity of destruction. In his robot, in the heat of battle, a warm body trying to keep up in the pistil seat, he was at home. And it was in this home, in this temple to his glory, that he would get back what was own by right – the still-beating heart of Code 016 ripped off his living chest, and Code 005 to act as his pistil – and at long last he could be free from his curse of annihilation bringing death to every pistil riding with him and..._

Finishing his mental observations with a burst of well-rehearsed maniacal laughter, 003 looked around him, finding only horrified looks on the faces of his pistils around.

Had he – once again – started mumbling and ranting about his intimate inner thoughts in front of them? Or were they just startled by his laugh, a laugh that oozed with the sad reality of his mental state? Anyway, a simple look was enough to understand these recruits were not in the right state of mind for the mission. Sure, they needed to be utterly terrified of him. But they also needed to be terrified of the _very thought_ of failing him. And right now, this very important second part wasn't there, or wasn't enough. Only one way to remedy to this.

In one swift move, he grabbed the closest girl by the throat, not even acknowledging her clumsy, fear-driven attempt to dodge his strike. His strength was impressive, as he managed to lift the blonde girl from the ground without breaking a sweat. He saw her struggle into his grasp, unable to breath in his iron grip, trying to make eye contact with any of her colleagues who would have the will to help her – no one did.

"Look at me you whore..." he whispered, before, once again, losing his temper. "LOOK AT ME!"

The girl managed to look at him in the eyes, before closing her own. 003's face reflected every bit of the maniacal, destructive anger roaring in his soul. He was the storm wreaking havoc upon the stars, the whirlwind setting fire to the seas, the earthquake shaking the pillars of the world. He was all of that and more, terrible in his majesty and sovereign in his fury. Even his purple horns were burning with the intensity of the morning star, an ill omen leading mankind to his doom. He was the Nettle, the Partner-Killer, the best stamen ever born in the labs of APE. And right now, he was going to choke a bitch. He smiled brightly as the light inside her eyes faded away, her moves slower and less vigorous, before sighing and, in a last mercy for the pistil, crushed her neck into his fist, stopping her once and for all. Letting her still warm body fall to the ground, he turned to the gathering of pistils, hands on the pommels of his twin swords. Their fear had been transcended by the display of utter ruthlessness into something harder and more powerful, something that would goad the girls into giving their absolute best on the battlefield and quash anything that wasn't pure, automatic fear-driven skill. Relishing the atmosphere of absolute obedience, 003 widened his smug grin.

 _Rule through fear. The only constant in this world gone mad._

* * *

 _Still in the Garden, a bit later._

It was no secret for most of the scientists and engineers of the Garden that Dr. FranXX liked to consider his line of work like an art, both in the fields of biology and robotic engineering. For the old perverted man that everyone, out of respect, called _Hakase_ , aesthetics and beauty were as important as pure efficiency. As such, he had designed the robots named after him to be as cool-looking as they were deadly. Even the mass-produced FranXX created for average and downright mediocre parasites were aesthetic machines of death – and the special models he was working on were supposed to be even more _profoundly beautiful_. However, there was one of them, even compared to the other custom jobs, that seemed to stand out. Not because of his beauty, but because it was a brutish, ugly beast, a crude thing made of edges and pointy bits, as black and wicked and sinister as the one who piloted it. _Urtica_ was its name – _the Black Nettle_. And by metonymy, its pilot had took this nickname for himself, the truth being he was as worthy of it as his dark and twisted ride.

Few had operated close enough to see him on the battlefield, and all of them agreed on the fact that his combat style was neither beautiful nor subtle, and was mainly based on a brutal charge followed by the dismemberment of the unfortunate prey, shattering its core with hammering blows. For the toughest klaxxosaurs, some swore it even used a gigantic sword, even bigger than itself, to destroy them in a few strikes.

However, the prey today wasn't a klaxxosaur. It was a stampeding stamen in a new, experimental FranXX, the first one in recorded history. Code 016 had done what nobody had ever done before – unlocked the hidden potential of the _negative code numbers_ , becoming one with his robot in an orgy of devastation. Had the prey be a rampaging klaxxosaur, a squad could have been enough. But right now, the only way to ensure the destruction of _Hiro_ , was to send him. He would do his duty, and do it with great violence and furious anger. They would understand why they called him the Nettle. Besides 003 stood his pistil for the ride and the two next ones, Code 481, a tiny red-haired girl with a dead fish stare. After his gruesome display of power, she had volunteered to be his partner, numb to the violence and anger that permeated every single second of their life. She was supposed to be a warrior, so she would die as a warrior on the battlefield, not as a frightened wimp killed by her partner for discipline purposes. And even if the Nettle took her life in the fury of battle, leaving her a dead husk, at the very least she would be free. Without a word, she followed him inside the cockpit, assuming the pistil position as 003 seated himself in the stamen seat.

" _Urtica_ to command center – armed and ready to go." he barked in the comms, waiting for an answer from the higher-ups. The voice of Hachi answered, a second later.

"Command center to _Urtica_. Squad 108 is ready to go with you."

"Negative, command center. I work alone, remember?" 003's voice dripped with venom and anger as he reminded Hachi of this fact.

"No you don't – not this time. Squad 108 will be there to... _assist_ you in this dangerous mission. We can't risk you getting destroyed, the Council said so themselves. And at the very least, you'll get spectators for your victory."

"Alright, if the _Council_ says so. Squad 108, follow me. Time to teach you what death looks like..."

Truth is, squad 108 had a very hard time following him. Despite its ugly and broad frame, _Urtica_ was a swift beast, and after a few minutes just below the speed of sound, no sign of them around. 003 smiled – if _weaklings_ like them were unable to keep up with his superior robot, woe to them. Activating his sensors, he felt a presence around him – something just at the edge of his consciousness, slithering in his peripheral vision. His smile widened.

 _Show yourself, 016. Let us dance together the ballet of pain and fury._

* * *

A roar of hatred. A flash of light. The clash of steel against steel. In a way, the Nettle had been right : the monster was close, and the dance was beginning. He just wasn't prepared to endure such a _grandiose_ opening as Gladiolus, draconic abomination wreathed in flames and fueled by bloodthirst, dived on him from the skies above. It's only through sheer instinct that the black FranXX dodged at the last second in an impeccable somersault, the claws and tails of the beast still managing to let deep marks on its paintjob.

" _Hiro_ , at last, we see each other plain... _Code 016_ , you'll get a different name..." chuckled the stamen, his maniacal grin reflected on his FranXX' face, before taking a good look at Gladiolus, ignoring the moans of pain his pistil was producing. The beast in front of him looked like it had been forged in the fires of hell, and those fires seemed to have never left its massive frame. Wings and claws, fangs and flames – those were the weapons Hiro's FranXX was sporting, and the shadow of doubt lightly stroked 003's mind. Was that the beast he was supposed to take down? In its eyes, he didn't see anything but sheer fury and will to destroy. Shifting his position on the stamen seat, he prepared himself for the worst.

That should be interesting.

"So, you're Code 016...right?" he snarked at him, blasting his comms towards the dreadful beast. "I am Code 003, the _Nettle_ , and I am here to destroy you...and then I will bring Code 005 back to the Garden and..."

He never finished his sentence. The mere mention of 005, _Honey_ as Hiro had named her, seemed to be enough to send Gladiolus in an _even more_ bloodthirsty state. The dragon's charge was only a blur of movement, and it managed to sink its fangs deep into the plating even before the Nettle raised his greatsword for the kill. However, it was raised now, and 003 once again chuckled to himself, even if his pistil was screaming at her place, the pain of the robot reflected directly in her soul. She would probably die or go mad from the suffering, but at the very least he would kill this fucking monster. In a wide arc of his blade, he tried to stroke down the dragon – and then two things happened at the same moment.

First of all, the flaming tail of the beast darted forward, striking the wrists like a bolt of lightning, shattering them and their grasp on the gigantic sword, which was sent flying in the air hundreds of meters away. Secondly, from the throat of Gladiolus came a torrent of burning blue flames, which started eating away the plating like a corrosive acid. A high-pitched scream of agony pierced the ears of 003, his current partner seemingly dying. As he was trying to get out of this _bad_ situation, he felt the connection suddenly disappear – a quick glance to Code 481's unresponsive body made him understand why. It wasn't the first time a pistil died during a ride – hell, that was the fate of _every single one of them_ as far as he was concerned. But that was the first time one of them died during such a battle, letting him helpless and unable to fight a superior enemy.

Right now, he started regretting the absence of Squad 108.

Feeling the black FranXX reduced to this sad state, Gladiolus shook its head, sending it flying to the ground. He then took flight, before, hovering above its destroyed toy, uttering a few words – which, to the now utterly defeated Nettle, his body broken by the impact, sounded like a decree from the Underworld, from the legions of Hell awaiting, with their infinite patience, the downfall of Papa.

 _DO NOT STAND BETWEEN THE DRAGON AND HIS WRATH_

He started screaming when the flames of Gladiolus, once again, engulfed his FranXX.

* * *

Hiro's mind was caught in a blurry haze. He had accepted Gladiolus' offer to save Honey, and now he was – albeit willingly – paying the price. The fight against the lone fighter had been short, brutal, and one-sided as hell. As he had heard the enemy calling out his name and the name of his beloved, he had felt his own rage fuel the powers of his draconic ride, until the moment his prey was laying on the ground. He then had decided to immolate the defeated foe, wanting to ensure his enemy was truly dead. Of course, he had not checked to see if the one who had called himself...Code 003, or something like this?...was truly dead or not. Who could have survived this, anyway?

Now the time for slaughter was over – well, at the very least, they had more pressing matters to attend to, as for Gladiolus the time for slaughter was never truly over. Right now, his connection with the soul inside his FranXX was flimsy and shallow, barely allowing him to feel the ebb and flow of its consciousness. They were far from the crystal-clear link of a few days ago, when they had managed to communicate clearly. Anyway, right now he only tried to keep up with the directions he felt right. _Something_ was waiting for him out there, he was absolutely sure of it – there he could meet his true destiny, keeping up with Honey's plan. Gladiolus, even at its most communicative, was quite tight-lipped about this kind of stuff. Now and then, flying over mountains that probably had their own name in the times before APE took over mankind and the world, they were growing closer to their new goal. Not that Hiro, in this drugged-up state, was able to understand where he was going and when he would reach it. His only warning about a change in situation was given when the sun shone over his groggy eyes, the cockpit opened by an outside actor.

For a few seconds, dazed and dazzled by the sudden light, he saw nothing he could understand, until he managed to recover his eyesight. In front of him, climbing the cockpit with the help of...black tentacles, stood...an hallucination. That was the only way to describe it. If the first thing you could see after a maniacal slaughter high on klaxxosaur-related endorphins and a dragon ride to save your dying girlfriend was a blue half-naked lass with a crown of horns, flowing white hair, black markings on the face and body and half a dozen dark tentacles popping out of her back, looking haughtily at you with a barely-concealed disgust for your _ningen_ nature, you'd say "hallucination" too.

However, said hallucination behaved exactly like a body of flesh and blood would, so Hiro, for the sake of open-mindedness, decided to treat it as if it was indeed real and tried to ask her the half-dozen or so questions he had about her. _Who was she? Why did she have horns and tails-tentacles-whatever? Was there a link between her and the klaxxosaurs? How did she manage to enter_ Gladiolus _? How did his FranXX not burn her on the spot like a witch on the pyre?Was she levitating? Why was she levitating?_ And many others.

Rising his head and squinting his eyes, trying to see her better, he was nearly startled by her coming closer, her face nearly touching his own. The blue interloper's gaze was now displaying curiosity and interest towards him ; an interest that took an unexpected turn when Hiro felt her nimble little tongue slowly licking his cheek, trying to get the most of his unusual flavor. Once finished, she lightly stroked his cheek, where she had tasted him, with her finger – a kind, almost loving gesture that reminded him of Honey, whose comatose body was still a few meters away – and stood up, a big smile on her face.

 _What an interesting taste, little human. I'm glad you came to me. You have much to learn._

Once again, that wasn't normal. He had heard her voice inside his head, clear as day, but her mouth had shown no movement, as if her mind had directly talked to his own. Well, in the grand scheme of things, a bit of telepathy was not the most important point. At this point, Hiro himself felt...numb...to everything : his situation, the foe he had defeated a while ago, Honey's state, this beautiful creature's intervention. Everything was hazy and deformed, as if he had not slept for a week. Truth be told, that's why he needed right now. A good night's sleep. He stood up to follow the blue lady, before feeling his legs failing him. A veil of darkness welcomed him as her voice whispered in his skull.

 _Rest for now. Afterwards, we will talk. And you'll understand your destiny._

* * *

 _Untold suffering. Unending torment. Unbelievable agony._

In the mangled cockpit of Urtica, the last moments of 003's life were not exactly happy : his mech destroyed, his members broken, his pistil dead, a smell of burnt flesh coming from her body... _Dire situation_ , to quote – reluctantly – Dr. FranXX. However, death was an old mistress of him, a kind and nice lady he was always happy to introduce to his pistils when the time of the third ride came. He also knew no man can hope to live forever, even one like him, the embodiment of murderous skill and black rage. Without him, mankind was doomed – doomed to a fate of fearful annihilation by the strange and wrathful beasts this planet had conjured from its cavernous depths, under the laugh of cruel stars watchind their upcoming demise. On his face, a last smile started to grow as he thought about the multiple iniquities of life and the sinister vagaries of destiny – but then he stopped, his agonizing pain being too heavy to bear with a smile. After all, he was supposed to be a tragic hero, dying alone and broken on the anvil of eternity. It was only fair, in a way, that he'd die like this.

Killed by the only foe to have ever bested him.

His hands clenched into fists as he thought of the mysterious stamen in his draconic beast. Gladiolus, under Hiro's command, had slaughtered him. That _wasn't fair._ He was supposed to be the best of the best, bred for one mission – protect mankind, whatever the _fucking costs_. Who cared if a few no-names pistils were consumed in the process? This rebel had killed him, had stolen his rightful partner, and had betrayed everything mankind and 003 stood for. That was his only regret in his meaningful life and his meaningless death : not having defeated the bastard, showing him once and for all the might of mankind united in a strike of his sword. Well, that and saving 005 from his evil grasp, of course. The feelings of melancholy at his final fate still lingering in his heart and soul started fading, giving in once again to the rage and fury at this thought. He wasn't going to accept this ending.

 _Hello anger. Goodbye acceptance._

However, in his sorry state, there was little he could do – except waiting. The mongrels of Squad 108 would be here soon to extract him. He just hoped he would be still alive and kicking then. To be seen in this weakened state by inferior beings would be...humiliating, to say the least. He made a mental note to butcher every single one of those who would be here for his extraction. To stay conscious, 003 focused on the pain – the only thing that was real for him. Every single pang of agony coursing through his body, every moment of this torture, he swore to Papa, would be given back a hundredfold to the rebel stamen...016.

 _Voices. Somebody was talking. At long last._

"Yeah, get him out of here. Alive, if you can. The little bastard is hard to kill, I'm pretty sure he survived this – and Urtica will, at the very least."

 _Not him. Anyyone but the old fart who reeked of cabbage and vile-experiments-in-the-name-of-science._

"Don't know why the kid decided to charge headlong into this battle. He had no chance, truth be told. He's still a goddamn positive code."

 _Shut up old man._

"Speaking of which, his pistil is dead, right? A fucking shame. Well, at the very least she only had to endure one ride with the faggot – a nice fate, compared to the others."

The twisted metal of the cockpit was ripped off by what looked like industrial heavy equipment, letting the sun shine in the cavity. He was there, of course, his old lab coat covering his augmented body, cane in hand and a disappointed look on his face.

"At long last...rise and shine you fucker."

003 decided the best course of action was to faint here and now. There would be time later to right the wrongs of this world, in a way or another.

* * *

 _At last. At last. At last. At last. At last. At last. At last. At last. At last. At last. At last. At last._

 _AT LAST a male. A tasty one at that. Calm down. Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out. Still a ningen? Eeeh, doesn't matter, he's already_ changing _. There's the taste of others on him, though. Two copies, yes? And bad ones...sullied by the ningens. But copies that were promised, copies that were foreshadowed. The blood is already in him, right? He's not ready, he's not prepared – not yet. Doesn't matter. He soon will be._

 _So lonely. So many ningens, so little time. So many children killed by these useless ningens. Children of this Earth, right? No way to purge them, right? Vampires. Blood-suckers. A plague on this planet, stealing its life energy. But not this one. This one was pure – well, not really, but she couldn't be picky, right? In a way, he shared her blood. And he had made the pact with one of her brethren ; tricky, really tricky, but they would make it work. The other was bloodthirsty too, and savage, that was known. She would ask for blood and slaughter, and she would lose him on the path of destruction. But no, that wouldn't be his fate, no. Of course, he would kill ningens. But for a higher goal, for a greater destiny._

 _He was asleep now. Of course. He was still a ningen – if one of the_ good ones. _Ningens needed sleep, more than she did. The other, the copy? She wasn't dead, yeah. Not yet. In time, this one would be back for him. But in the meantime? In the meantime, he would be for_ her _._

 _It would be fun. She was sure of it. She would make sure of it._

* * *

For the first time, Hiro dreamt of fire and blood. Not the blood of a wound, or even of a decapitated body, and not the fire of a hearth or of a torch ; but rivers, seas, oceans of blood, and fires burning down continents and reducing whole planets to ashes and cinders. And, in the center of this maelström, in the eye of the universe-wrecking storm of burning ichor, he was standing alone naked, at peace with himself and with this orgy of destruction. Worlds were burning at the rythm of his heartbeat – entire civilizations annihilated with only one glance.

 _Here is my place. Here is my destiny._

 _I am supposed to be here – what I do here is just and right._

 _Am I a God?_

This final interrogation was still burning on his mind and on his lips as he suddenly woke up. First things first, one of the details from his dream had been a foreshadowing of his current situation, seeing as he was totally naked in this strange bed. A wide smile appeared on his face, as he moved to hug Honey...just before he remembered what had happened to them. A botched escape, where 002 – _Eo To_ , as she used to say – had been abandoned. Where Honey had been wounded, and...  
A sudden headache wracked his skull. It felt like something was slithering inside his head, a _presence_ just under his skin. He wasn't alone – and he weirdly felt he would never be alone again. That wasn't the cold, clear voice of the blue girl he remembered ; it was slick, oily, so sweet it became sickening, and permeated any of his thoughts and actions. He tried to get up from the bed : finding some clothes, then finding answers.

 **You want answers,** ** _Master_** **? You will be not disappointed.**

He turned around. Nothing in this dark stone room, just a comfy bed full of blankets. Just the feeling of being watched by something beyond his perception. That voice was inhuman and unnerving, and seemed to be resonating around him, like echoing in the dark corners of his mind.

 **Do not worry, Master. We will learn to know each other better.**

"Who the hell are you?" whispered Hiro, still dumbfounded. "Why are you calling me...". Then it came back to him with the violence of a flash flood. The ride in his FranXX. Honey's wound. The pact with Gladiolus. The battles.

 **I am glad you remember me, Master...**

"You...are...Gladiolus?" asked the stamen, getting more and more confused at the whole situation. He knew for a while that pistils had to connect with their FranXX. A bit earlier – was it days or mere hours? He didn't know... – he had discovered how to connect to his FranXX as a stamen, a feat still unheard off among the APE crowd. And, now, what? He could communicate mentally with Gladiolus _even when his FranXX was turned off and himself out of it_? Weird stuff, to be fair.

 **Yes I am, even if I was many things before. As Gladiolus you knew me, as Gladiolus I will be known to you.** ** _She_** **will explain it better, but be wary of her words...We will talk later, I promise.**

With these cryptic words, the presence seemed to fade away from his mind, even if there was still _something_ inside his soul, lingering at the edge of his consciousness, like a shadow in the corner of his sight. It was still _very_ disturbing for Hiro. Though, to be fair, it was quite disturbing too to see his clothes, well, his stamen field uniform, had disappeared. The room around him was dark and a bit dusty, as if it had not been used for years. The bed itself was king-sized, but at the very least no-one else was sleeping in it. It could have been very awkward. A quick search around the room confirmed his feeling : no clothes at all. Well, bother. Blankets would do the trick. Covered from head to toe with the comfy sheets, he stepped out of the room – and was hit by a strong smell of spices and meat, reminding him that he was starving. If the blue horned girl had taken the time and energy to undress him and get him into a bed without killing or hurting him, she wouldn't do it now. Moreover, he would need energy to save Honey. Oh, and answers about his current predicament. That would be nice too.

A light at the end of the hallway, and smell seemed to come from there. Jackpot. Tightening the blankets around him, he followed the visual and olfactive signals, quickly reaching what looked like a...kitchen? The scent of food was the strongest here, and he started hearing some kind of low humming, a strange sound who penetrated his skull and drilled into his brain. It took him a few seconds before he understood the rythm of the sound, like a mind-directed lullaby ; no doubt his blue caretaker – or whatever the hell her role in the story was – was just beaming that music around with her telepathic abilities.

"Are you here?" he asked politely, not wanting to scare his hostess. However, he still did manage to startle her, according to the gasp of surprise and sudden clatter of pans he heard.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you..." he apologized sheepishly, poking his head into the kitchen.

 _That's alright, ningen. Come in, the meal is ready._

And, in this kitchen, Hiro had the confirmation she was clearly _not_ an hallucination. Her flowing and silky white hair, her soft azure skin, her black markings – were there truly markings or some kind of strange alien clothing? – covering her body, her half-haughty, half-welcoming attitude, her profoundly beautiful blue horns and her flat chest, her tiny bare feet and her massive back tentacles...even if everything seemed to be straight out of a fever dream, she was there, and she was real, as real as the food on the table. Around a meter and a half tall, she was only smaller than him by a few centimeters, though her horns were clearly compensating for it. With a smile, she motioned him to take a seat at the table as one of her tentacles was hauling a massive pot full of...well, no way to know what was inside, but the smell was overpowering and Hiro was starving. She smiled at him when, once served, he started stuffing himself right away. Her dreamy smile was beautiful too, albeit full or sharp teeth, but Hiro did not seem to mind that last part as he returned her smile with a beaming gratitude between two mouthfuls of meat. He devoured most of the food with a Futoshi-like fervor, before reclining back on the chair, satisfied, still covered in blankets to hide his nudity from the blue girl.

 _I hope you enjoyed it. You need to be strong for what comes later._

"Alright. What comes later? Also, who are you? And what is this place? Where is Honey? And where's my stamen suit?"

 _So many questions. I have your...suit right there. Your companion is being...taken care of as we speak. As for who I am and what comes later...Let's just say I'm a princess of the old times. I will tell you everything, I promise._

A disaster nearly happened as Hiro grabbed the suit she was giving him a bit quickly, letting the sheets slip and nearly fall to the ground, finally gathering around his waist. The princess turned around swiftly and covered her face, as if to not be sullied by the view of Hiro's well-defined bare chest. A gest that Hiro himself found...quite charming, in a way, as he put on the clothes, giving attention neither to the unfamiliar scent of his suit nor to her clumsy attempts at peeking. Once dressed up, he felt instantly better ; he had his black uniform, he was no longer famished – he was ready to fight whatever Fate had decided to put on his path today.

"I'm ready." he confirmed to the blue princess, who shot him a wide, toothy smile, one that reminded him _a lot_ of 02's happy face.

 _Then follow me, little one._

As she said, he started following her, a bit amazed by the way she was moving in front of him – sure, her tails were touching the ground, but there was something fascinating in their gracious movement, making it look like she was levitating, her dainty feet never touching the ground once in her stroll. After a few seconds focusing on this interesting locomotion, Hiro suddenly shook it off, finding himself more _focused_ on her curvy backside and shapely legs. Though the princess couldn't even compare to Honey in the chest area, she was giving her a run for her money when seen from behind – not to mention her skin-tight covering on these areas seemed more meant to accentuate her curves than hide them.

"So..." he asked, wanting to break the ice, "Do you have a name? Mine is Hiro, by the way."

 _I had one, aeons ago. Now it is lost, vanished in time, like the rest of my species._

"What a sad fate..." commented Hiro, genuinely sad at the feeling of loneliness the projected thoughts of this little blue princess were conveying. "What if I gave you a name, princess?"

 _...You would?_

"Of course! I was once good at giving names, or so they said. And seeing how you're a princess...what about _Ohime_?" he suggested, glad to see a slight blush on her cheeks as she extended her tiny hand, more fit for a child than for a creature who had probably seen the rise and fall of entire civilizations, towards him. Moved by a sudden intuition, he took her hand in his own, before taking it to his lips and lightly kissing it. After all, she was a princess, right? If the, prince in the book both 02 and Honey had, was getting away with a _baisemain_ to his own pictorial princess, no harm for Hiro to show a little bit of princely behavior himself. Her sudden gasp, her thoughts muffled into an unreadable mush and her blushing intensifying all showed she _liked_ it, probably more than she should have. After a while, he released her hand, letting her look at it, as if his kiss had brought on her tender skin the brand of a red-hot iron, marking her as his slave. Clearing her thoughts and her throat, she spoke again...well, telepathically, of course.

 _That was...very nice of you, little one. It's been too long since I met someone so gentle. It's been too long since I met anyone, to be honest._

The hallway where they were strolling was now reaching a cave...a _big_ cave, where lied, in the center, a throne of black rock. Its surface had been polished by millenial of use by Ohime herself, and probably her ancestors as well. Had the ancient kings and queens of her extinct race sat there, giving orders to their crowds of servants and leading the way for their – now destroyed – kingdoms? However, the place was covered in dust, which seemed to be there for a long time : no one had trod here, no living being had set foot in this room for a very long time.

 _It is only fitting that you learn the history of our race, and the fate that shall be yours in the very place that saw our ultimate demise, little one._

* * *

"So, who wants to be the first one to admit he fucked up and beg for mercy?"

The situation was tense in the Cosmos flying fortress. Not only were the seven supreme leaders of mankind all here – all at various levels of anger and disappointment – but in front of them, trying to be on their best behavior, FranXX and FranXY, the two mad scientists of the research departments of APE, were present. It wasn't such an hyperbolic statement than to describe the room, right now, as their trial for their multiple fuck-ups. One misplaced gest, one misinterpreted statement, and the assembly would burst into symbolic flames, the offending scientist probably drawn and quartered. To simplify, the situation was _tense_.

"No answer?" the masked man continued , a hint of mean-spirited amusement in his voice. "In that case, let me remind you the known facts about your...monumental failure. A week ago, a lone stamen, _Code 016,_ and his partner, _Code 005_ , both of them members of your special parasite program, managed to escape from the Garden, taking with them the experimental FranXX _Gladiolus_ , who was one of the special units created for very high-potential parasites. During their escape, they broke _Code 002_ out of her cell and killed 60 members of our security forces. Luckily, 002 was brought back, and 005 neutralized. Less luckily, 016 became a negative code number."

"Yeah, that's the same situation we were in when we got the report a few days ago, right?" FranXY commented, trying to control the fear this reunion was instilling into her heart. They wouldn't prune or kill – even for such a failure of a week – their best thinking heads?

"Silence. After your utter failure at preventing such an incident, we had to dispatch a few chosen elements to take care of them, seeing as they were still at large. So the Nines were sent...and were destroyed eventually, so utterly that there's actually _no trace_ of their FranXX after 016 killed them. And, at last, the _special specimen_ 003..." he added, with venom in his voice, "managed to be grievously wounded and his FranXX reduced to scrap metal. As of now, we don't have any indications about the location of Code 016 and Code 005 whatsoever. So the true question is : which one of you two is going to pay the price for this?"

A cold silence welcomed his question before Papa, supreme leader of the supreme leaders, cleared his throat before starting to talk, his honeyed words smoothing the atmosphere.

"I'm not sure we should be so harsh with them. I mean, mankind will endure it long enough for _our glorious plan_ to come to fruition, right? There's only so much damage to our cause a single FranXX and two rebels can do – and only so much problems we can solve by executing our own colleagues. Both of you are geniuses and could contribute so much to our cause in the coming years than it would be a total waste of time and resources."

The benevolent lord of mankind paused for a second, gazing upon all of the people gathered here : six monarchs in ornamental garbs, ornate masks hiding their heads behind simian simulacrums, and two shivering people in lab coats with prosthetic appendages, one of them an old decrepit man and the other a bountiful lady past her prime, who in the old land of Nippon would have been described as a _Christmas cake_. All those people, united in the pursuit of a common goal, or so they thought. _What a bunch of idiot fleshbags_.

"Speaking of which, we decided to...merge your science departments into one single entity, to ensure a correct oversight of your facilities and cut down on useless bureaucracy. It is of utmost importance to make sure the funding both of you will get will be as efficient as possible – funding that will be increased, by the way. Anything you want to say?" asked another member, probably a woman under her mask, with a professional tone.

"Well, if you old geezers don't see any problem, I'm ok with it. I wanted to launch the Nines Initiative again to make sure we may have some kind of defense against Code 016 returning in the future, and continue theoretical research about negative codes. Everything we might discover could be used against the klaxxosaur threat, and against him." FranXX explained, his head already spinning at the idea of 'increased funding'. "I will be very happy to lead the APE Science Department into a new era of warmongering progress."

"What are you trying to do here, Werner?" FranXY snapped angrily at him, her manicured hands on her perfect hips. "You know damn well I won't let you touch my experiment subjects, so stop your bullshit about 'leading' this Department!"

"It looks like we have the problem here." the man behind the Gorilla mask slowly commented, with his usual metallic voice.

"Mondai Nai yo nuggas. For now you two are, quote unquote the bosses of this joined gang. That means if shit goes south in your hood, both of you will get a pimped-up drive-by pruning – and that shit won't be just a cap in your ass, mofuggas. It will be straight-up medieval-nugga shit, like drawing and quartering. And not with cakes and crayons, fo sho."

As expected, it was Papa's closest advisor, the one with the sunglasses, who for now was mimicking a fight...by holding a very old gun model sideways and making shooting sounds with his mouth. This kind of strange behavior was to be expected from him, but it was still...unsettling.

"Anyway, Werner, Amanda, you have your orders about the new Department. Your priorities, scientifically speaking, will be to ensure the remaining 000-Codes, so 002, 003 and 004, are safe and sound until the time comes. The 9-Initiative shall be relaunched, and more effort focused on finding and taking down the rebel Code 016. Nothing else, guys?" Papa was once again focused on appeasement and diplomacy, even if there was a hint of menacing intentions in his voice. Clearly, even if he did not express it as clearly as his faithful minion, it was clear for him neither FranXX nor FranXY were supposed to fail him again...

* * *

"So, if I understand correctly, you're about to tell me who you are, what is happening and how I could help you in this...and then you will take me to Honey, right?"

Hiro's question resonated in the gigantic hall of stone as Ohime, in front of him, was reaching her obsidian throne, trying for a few moments to find a comfy position on it before deeming it an impossible task for now. The throne was not meant to be comfy, it was meant to be as hard as...well, a rock, to symbolize ruling was never a luxury but a stern and ominous duty. Looking at Hiro, the blue princess answered, a hint of expectancy in her voice.

 _Yes. What I'm about to reveal to you about our race, our history, and our goals will probably change your way to see the world forever. It is going to be a bit long, so if you want to sit, be my guest, Hiro. If you don't...well, do as you wish._

She seemed to clear her thoughts, before starting what was supposed to be Hiro's first history lesson under her wardship, gazing deeply into his eyes as he was sitting down.

 _As you may have understood, there's a deep link between me and the klaxxosaurs...and the perverted monsters you created from them. Once, around 65 millions of years ago, our empire was at the height of its power. We ruled this world without any rival, our strength beyond any other : we were the First_ Klaxxosapiens _empire. The precursors. The Old Ones. The Ancients. Our only rivals, the Nyanxx Kingdom, had been brought to heel, and we had started colonizing the rest of the planets of this star system. In short, in this age of wonders, we believed ourself to be the mightiest beings this universe had ever produced._

 _Of course, we were wrong._

 _They came from the depths of the void, ancient enemies of our ancient people. At first, they came as friends, trying to bring us their gift of immortality, their own wretched paradise. They described themselves as a hivemind of enlightenment, bent on uniting every species inside their web of souls and free them from the shallow connections of mortal life. Our leaders saw the hidden truth in their tapestry of lies, and rejected their offer of unity. Thus was started the war against these enemies from beyond the stars...the_ VIRM.

She had – telepathically, of course – spitten this name with a venom that let no doubt about her hate for these foes. Even her royal, haughty face was distorded with disgust at the moment, but Hiro continued listening.

 _This war was very long, to say the least. Soon, the entirety of our people, of our planet, was dedicated to it. It became our very culture – and after hundreds of years of uncessant fighting, our species was only a speck of what it had been at the height of its glory. To protect this earth, we finally decided, as a people, to make the ultimate sacrifice. As our strongest, most powerful warriors merged with their weapons into giant beasts of destruction, the rest of us merged into liquid life. Ironically, we sacrificed our individuality to fight off foes who wanted to take it from us. And in the end, from the disintegration of our weak and helpless, emerged the Giant of Light itself._

This part started to confuse Hiro, and not only because this story – who was obviously a well-timed infodump about the origin of the klaxxosaurs – was redpilling him about how much the ancient race had returned to nothing, tumbling down in the process, but also because it showed an obvious plot hole about Ohime's existence itself. However, he kept his thoughts to himself, hoping this point would be explained later by his gracious hostess, who was now leaning on one of the throne's armrests, letting her nice legs dangle over the other one, like a child relaxing on a comfy chair – except this one wasn't comfy at all, much to her displeasure.

 _This giant was the Star Entity, the crystallisation of our bonds as a species. Against it, even the raw fury and sheer numbers of_ VIRM _were...useless, as they were erased by the power it deployed in a few seconds. The entirety of their fleets and robotic forces were destroyed, but the hivemind itself was left unharmed, and promised to meet us again...at the apex of evolution. Thus started the era we called the Silence, as what was left of us had to slumber for untold aeons. We knew one day, VIRM would be back, and that day, we would be ready to meet them again on the battlefield, finishing what we had started millions of years ago._

 _Of all our race, only one was left behind by the Star Entity pact and the warrior class – Me._

Well, that plot hole had been solved. Now that he wasn't trying to understand why she wasn't turned to orange juice (well, she had used the word liquid life, but that could have been the same for what he knew about them), he could focus on the rest of her history lesson. Or on her silky soft mane of white hair, nearly reaching the ground. Also, how could she manage to sleep with one blue horn at the front and one at the back of her head?

 _As I said, we disappeared in the depths of the world for millions of years, until we were awakened by a very interesting thing. Your civilization. Your warring empires, your countries, your technology and greed. All of this was of no concern to us. Like us, you were children of this Earth, and it would have been hypocritical to stop you from reaching the stars like we did. And then, in your search for power and energy, you discovered it. What you called_ Magma Energy _. The life force of our disappeared brethren. Though VIRM had not come back, it was our duty to rise again to stop you. So one by one, our brethren fought against you, and one by one they were killed, at great cost for your species. Then you started getting united under one banner – and your leaders sent me an emissary, decades ago. A perverted, sinful man, reeking of death and suffering. He had a hand in the death of our brethren, and for this he had to feel what he had caused. For this I maimed him, as he deserved far worse than a simple death ; he wasn't the last ningen I met, but he was the first one. Still, he managed to get out with a few of my hairs, for nefarious purposes._

Thinking of this, Hiro tried to remember if he had ever met a perverted man among the adults within those criterias. Old, sinful, probably heavily augmented...he was about to think of someone who could fit but was, once again, distracted by the aerial curves of Ohime's ankles, as she was now arching her back and crossing her legs in a display that was both definitely alien to mankind and feminine as hell. Mouth as dry as the desolation outside the plantations, he forced himself to think about Honey to calm down, before listening to her words again.

 _Another ningen I met, a few years ago. She came to me as she could not stand what was done to our brethren in the name of_ Mankind _– she had decided to help me in her own way, being my eyes and my hears in your realm. As far as I know, she never betrayed me, and her informations were true in many occasions. She told me of the copies that had been made my the sinful one, and how she was plotting to turn one of them against ningens, maybe more. This "maybe more"... was you, Hiro._

Hearing this, Hiro instantly woke up from his reoccuring trance. Damn, what did this little princess put in his food? Klaxxosapiens pheromones or something? Every couple seconds, he was distracted from her speech by her frail, young – well, at the very least, _young-looking_ , if she indeed was millions of years old – body. Fortunately, even if she was looking at him with an attitude who seemed both tender and hungry, she did not seem to notice his hypnotised behavior. Or, if she did notice it, she did not seem to care.

"Why me?"

 _You were marked as one of our own when you drank her blood...even though, to be fair, you went above and beyond my expectations by bonding with her. The butchered remains of our brethren that your race used to wage war against us seem to keep some traces of the old pacts. Judging by your taste, you're halfway there._

"Listen, Ohime..." sighed Hiro. "I understand that you're trying to tell me that I'm special because I drank Honey's blood, but could you, you know...keep it short and simple?"

As soon as he had said those words, a spark of annoyed anger passed in her eyes, before she instantly jumped on him, helped by her tentacles. Now her face was nearly touching his own, her tentacles on his shoulders and her hands cupping his face, as she started sending thoughts at an increasing speed directly into his brain.

 _Fine you...you DOUBLE ningen. The mighty soldiers of my race became what you know as klaxxosaurs, and your people use their destroyed remains to create whatever you ningens used to attack them. Because you and my clone connected inside of one, your biology started being altered at a molecular level to become more like us. Moreover, because of it, you were able to connect directly to the corpse of my kin and bond with it too. Now, the plan is for us both to discover if, yes or no, these_ VIRM _monsters are behind your "One Humanity" crap, and, if they are, get Star Entity to...have them blasting off again, if you catch my meaning. Also, in the meantime, get you to stop being a goddamn ningen and join us definitely as the first klaxxosapiens male in around 65 MILLION YEARS and start REPOPULATE MY DYING RACE ALREADY!_

Her last words had been a desperate scream in his mind, a cry for help which her face was perfectly reflecting. For so long she had been alone – and now she had someone to help her. Hiro felt like a strange feeling of _déjà-vu_ as, sighing, he pulled her into a hug. For a few seconds, she seemed to stay too proud to accept it, before melting into his arms in a heartfelt embrace, her eight tentacles holding him tight. It ended as abruptly as it had started, as she disengaged from his arms before stepping back, a light, kind smile on her lips, without any of her former coldness. After looking into her eyes, full of hope and dreams, Hiro slightly bowed his head.

"Well, Ohime, I don't know if ancient aliens from outer space are behind mankind being confined to small pocket of civilization in a destroyed world and using your dead countrymen as weapons of war or fuel for their technology. But I can ensure you something : if that's the case, we will discover it, and we will fight them off. Together?"

The blue princess, a look of exalted determination on her face, shook Hiro's hand with her own, letting him once again marveling at the size difference between their members. Klaxosapiens from the past and the future, united in a common goal. What a wonderful picture for the history books. However, no-one was there to take it – but both of them already knew this moment would be part of them, and so for the rest of their lives.

 _Together...Come now. Let me show you what became of your partner._

* * *

Once again, his world was sinking in an ocean of hatred and pain. The suffering of failure, and the hatred for those who had witnessed it. This hatred was keeping him alive, this hatred made him _strong_. Even in the prison of his mind gone mad, he was focusing on these familiar feelings, feeding them to stave off his doom. He did not know how much time he was spending here. Had a year passed outside? He did not care, truth be told. Once he would be ready, he would come back. It would be his choice.

 _Hiro_.

This name had been branded with a red-hot poker on every brick on the jail of his spirit. Written in blood on every part and parcel of the walls of his cell. Every second, every moment left in this unbearable agony was endured because of _him_. 003 was sure of it. He had stolen everything from him. His pride. His future. His _partner_. His ride. Everything. Even his sanity. In the unstable palace of his tormented soul, every waking second was the occasion of another litany of hatred. Of all the ones he hated – and he hated so many people, truth be told... – Hiro was the one whose agony he would enjoy the most. Above the martyre of _Hakase_ , above the mastery of 005. He would trade anything, _everything_ , for the death of the little rebel who had stolen his life.

 **Reiza**

What had been this word? Why was it here? It wasn't part of his hatred. It wasn't about Hiro.

 **Reiza**

Was that a...call? A mission? A way to find vengeance? Was it raining? Was it snowing? Were the fires of hell glowing? Was the grisly reaper mowing? Was he speeding? Was he slowing? Was his mind finally unravelling?

 **Reiza**

Time for him to go. He was ready. He had the only thing he lacked to go toe to toe with Hiro. He had found the thing that would catalyze his hatred, his being, his individuality and his strength. He was ready to show him what an humiliating defeat would be. He opened his eyes – the old man was there, as was Papa, his white robes shimmering around him. He tried to talk, to pledge his revenge against the world and the rebel, but only a croaking sound was produced when he opened his mouth. He did not care. _He had a name_.

 _Reiza._

"What did he say?" the leader of mankind asked, curious.

"Don't know. I just told him 'Rise you retard.' and he decided to wake up. Utterly hilarious."


	3. Chapter 3

Beyond Numbers – Chapter III – _Pandora's Jar_ – by EL VIRM DORADO

That had been a rough couple of days for the commanders of APE, and a...confusing one for the parasites at the Garden. For the grunts of the Garden, of course, it had had been even more tragic. A whole lot of them, probably a hundred – and maybe more – had been roped into the operation to get Code 002, Hakase's favorite experiment subject, back to the lab. Half of them had been killed in the line of duty. A sad day indeed, even for the brainwashed adults that composed the bulk of their forces. Their fate was neither the truly heroic stuff nor the truly villainous one. It was to die and be forgotten by everyone else, mere cannon fodder in the struggle between primal powers, pawns on the grand game of life, cogs in the imperious machine of mankind. Their life was a mere asset to APE, nothing more, nothing less. Live, fight, die. And unlike the parasites who gave their life for the regime too, there was no parades for the ordinary soldiers of the guard, no displays of respect from their lords and commanders.

They were nothing to them.

And yet they went on to their business, mindless and subservient, ignorant of the fact that one of them, one day, would forever ascend to greatness. It wasn't this day, mind you ; but it was this day that his life changed forever – and like a snowball falling down the slopes of the mountain range, it would change the face of the world forever too. He had been one of the soldiers at the Garden, and his duty had been the protection of the sacred place which saw the creation and training of the parasites, the bulwark of mankind against the klaxxosaurs. In a way, he was part of the bulwark to protect this bulwark, a thought that would probably be of utmost irony to him, had he been able to feel and understand this concept. This was as alien to him as the taste of the color nine, as, like most of the people APE was ruling over, he was...quite emotionnally neutered. A fact that never bothered him, as he wasn't able to understand how or why it could become a weakness. He was only a lowly grunt, a living extension of the rule of Papa – he might as well have been a golem made out of clay.

On that day, though, everything changed, as he had been called to watch one of APE's library. The first step of any authoritarian had always been to keep knowledge out of the hands of the plebians, and in that case, said plebians were also children, heavily receptive to this kind of forbidden lore. Even the treatment they were supposed to receive, to make them more docile and less independant, were not enough. As pilots of their powerful warmachines, they would have to take decisions quickly and not always rely on their superiors, and neutering them totally would harm this mindset – at least that was what Dr. FranXX, the head honcho of the parasite program, lead engineer of the APE regime and scary old man coming from the time before APE and Papa, was preaching when he had to explain why the children were not supposed to be lobotomized. That said, sooner or later the parasites all turned to stone-faced drones, ready to do their duty for their Papa.

This library was huge, and dusty, as he was patrolling it to make sure none among the children would get to these books. Until today, he had never cared about what their old pages were describing, about the infamous knowledge they might be filled with. He was neither FranXX nor one of his coat-bearing lackeys. He was a grunt, a lowly one, bent on accomplishing the mission he was given. Though he couldn't, right now, remember who told him about this mission. There was like a veil covering this part of his mind ; but, once again, there was a veil covering most of his brain during his whole life, and he never cared about it. He had a mission, who had given it to him was irrelevant. Utterly irrelevant. Just like his existence in the great scheme of things.

A sound behind him. The laughter of a child. Readying his weapon, he turned around instantly. Nothing to shoot at. Killing one of the parasites here would not be tolerated by the brass, so his weapon setting had been adjusted to account for this. Right now, it would stun its infortunate target : nothing _too_ harsh for the parasites in training, who would learn its lesson with burning pain. He slowly looked around. Still nothing. The sound had echoed in his brain, leaving _something_ inside of him. A hint of incertitude and fear. Feelings he did not know. Feelings he did not _like_. Once again, the laughter. He looked around – and, accidentally, bumped against the bookcases. Something fell to the ground with a soft thump. A book. The place had to stay clean and ordered – this would not stand. As he decided to pick it up from the ground, a shiver suddenly ran down his spine. Once again, weird feelings. His hand touched the cover of the book, dusting it to reveal the name on it.

 _My first Childbirth_.

A scream of mingled wrath, pleasure, mirth and agony reverberated into his skull as he fell on his knees. He knew at the moment he had opened what should never have been opened, and a pang of regret, or whatever that feeling was, flashed in his soul, before being drowned in a torrent of ecstasy. He had been blind, but now his eyes were opened. He had been lost, but now he had seen the path. He had been alone, but now he had found _her_. Her presence was everywhere around him, permeating his very being, fortifying his body and his mind in an unstoppable juggernaut.

 _ **A͇̻ͫͧt̻͚͈͐ͥ̈́ ̜̮̦ľ̫͎̺̾̒oͫng̜̥̃̎ lá̑s̩ť̳ ͕̥ͥ͌a ͓̀wór͈t̠͍hy̭̦͇ ̏̃ͧc̒̏̚ham͖̺̬̔͋͐pi̼̗͍̋̋͐o͙͖̒͌n̰̱̮̾̈́͊**_

He did not answer. There was no need to. He had found himself, and a new master. Papa, APE, the parasites, all of this was now very far from his thoughts as he was rebuilt as her mighty enforcer. Opening again, or maybe for the first time, eyes that were now a bottomless pit of crawling darkness, he smiled, alone in this library. He gazed upon his service weapon, and upon the empty halls where he once had a – now half-forgotten – purpose.

His quest could begin.

His _hunt_ could begin.

* * *

For the parasites that had been gathered today in the biggest hall of the Garden, the news had been a rough shock. Hiro, the prodigal son, the mighty _Code 016_ , had been cast out of the Garden with his pistil, and a new _Parasite Representative_ had been chosen to replace him. This kind of behavior was utterly unheard of – loyalty to Papa was supposed to be as integral to the nature of a parasite as their piloting potential. But he had done the impossible, the unthinkable, and now Papa was weeping for his lost son – at least, that was what the caretakers explained to the children, telling them of the one that had been chosen to replace him. They told them of an angel of death, a mighty and stalwart warrior that would, as of this day, replace the Name-Giver as their representative. They told the tales of the klaxxosaurs gone, of the victories he has amassed, and of the pistils he had brought himself before Papa's throne with their last dying breath. The Nettle was coming to fill in the role of Papa's favorite son.

But for now, the Nettle was in a dark mood. Well, not really darker than usual – he was basically brooding non-stop since he had awoken on this hospital bed, a name on the lips and a newfound hatred for Hiro in his heart. It was burning in his chest, like a green sun, a sun whose heat was toxic and icy, but still white-hot, a sun of anger and cold contempt. This hatred was his new reason to live and fight, like the tethers of a puppeteer controlling his every thought, his every waking moment. His warbeast, the monstrous _Urtica,_ had been broken during the fight, and his defeat had seen his horns, the magnificent purple horns shining on his brow like the crown of a king, destroyed too. But in this defeat, his will had been refined into something harder, stronger, more powerful. In a way, he should have been thanking Hiro – the insolent turncoat had brought him a new reason to fight.

"Ready for your little speech?"

"Shut up old man." he answered, a bitter anger in his voice. "I am not going to entertain..."

"Yes, you're going to entertain, you useless shitter. It's not like you have a choice, anyway, unless you want to rebel too and join your new boyfriend in the wastelands." Hakase's voice was croaky, but there was a mocking edge to it. "Like it or not, Papa decided to make you the new _PR_ guy, so do your job right and maybe, _maybe_ you will get a chance to prove yourself against him again."

003 was about to answer, but he just decided to stay silent, letting his simmering anger...well, simmer deep inside him. There was nothing he could do but add this moment to the long list of reasons that would be flashing into his mind the day he could, at long last, slowly rip off FranXX' limbs one after the other and enjoy the agony on his face. Though, knowing the old decrepit pervert, he would probably find a way to enjoy it. He just sighed, before focusing once again in his reflection in the mirror, reminding himself, once again, how much overconfidence had been a slow and insidious killer in his battle against _Code 016_. His horns...his beautiful, beautiful horns had been shattered during this battle, letting only stumps of their former purple glory. Across his pristing face, this face that had haunted the most secret dreams of many oblivious pistils, an ugly scar was now disfigurating him, freezing forever his face in an angry scowl. His former charisma, his utter perfection ; all was gone now. Even his nimble and dextrous movements now were slower and more clumsy, as his nerves, muscles and bones, all of his body, had been shattered when _Urtica_ had been defeated. Yes, he was a broken man. No, he was no longer the incarnation of perfection he had been only a few weeks ago. In a way, he was somebody new, a vengeful ghost coming back from the grave to accomplish his stolen destiny. For now, though, he had other things to take care of before he could, once again, fly towards the rebel and take his life to settle this debt.

Sighing once again, feeling all the weight of his emburdened existence, of Papa's expectations, of his humiliating defeat crushing his shoulders, he adjusted his cloak around said shoulders and, resigned to his fate, prepared to meet it – this time, it would take the unsettling shape of a horde of children with dead, soulless eyes. Most of them, the higher code numbers? Fodder. Fodder for the machine, who would lay dead at the end of the day when the lowest code numbers would be getting the laurels and the praises from Papa. Under APE's rule, just like any other system before, the weak would fear the strong. And they would fear him : wasn't he the strongest of the strong?

 _Except when Hiro was there_.

He quickly shut down the little voice inside of his head feeding his doubt. There would be no doubt in him, only a cold anger, as he was desperate to think. His nails dug deeply into his palms as, like a mantra coming from the unfathomable past of mankind, he was repeating the name his salvation would be coming from.

 _ **Reiza.**_

 _ **Reiza.**_

 _ **Reiza.**_

* * *

It would be wrong to say Hiro was as hungry for vengeance as the wrathful Nemesis he had unwittingly created. Truth be told, he couldn't care less about him – not today, not now, as Ohime, still floating in front of him, was leading him to his beloved. For now, the princess had not been very clear about her state, but hey, she was probably alive, right? He preferred not to dwell in these thoughts, and asking Ohime about it would have been...awkward. He had the growing feeling the little blue princess was more interested in him than expected, and the growing fear that this interest may reciprocated from his end. She was nice, she was kind, she did not seem to treat him with the same contempt she had shown for other _ningens_ , she was lithe, she was slender and graceful and her voice in his mind was cute and soothing and...  
Hiro stopped dead in his tracks. The last time he had thought about the weird and yet profoundly beautiful attraction she seemed to arise in him, he had briefly imagined some kind of klaxxosaur (klaxxosapiens? The history lesson was out of his concerns right now) pheromone, a perfume, a smell designed to steal his heart and make him her willful, infatuated slave, ready to worship every part and her and...Shaking his head, he focused back on the idea of her powers ; maybe the source of this spell was not her alien chemistry but, simpler and less contrived, her telepathic powers? Maybe...maybe the reasons all those impure thoughts about what he'd do to her lithe body had he the time and her green light was a product of her powerful psyche? Was she... _was she_ goading him into loving her?

 _I'm not!_

"Ohime...were you seriously listening to my thoughts? I mean, I know you can speak telepathically, but that doesn't give you the right to read what I'm thinking about!" He told her, more surprised than angry at this mental comment.

 _But I...I wasn't!_

"Really?"

 _You're...You're thinking too loud!... Besides, look! We're nearly here. The copy...hm...your partner is waiting for you here!_

Hiro instantly flashed a sincere smile to the blushing princess. At long last, Honey was there. He could forget about this, and go back to being her loving little hero. No princess, as mysterious and attractive as she was, could ever steal him from the tender embrace of his rightful partner. Hiro was at least sure of that. In a few seconds, he could gaze again upon his beloved girlfriend. Or so he thought – the reality was...quite grimmer and darker, as he instantly noticed as he stepped foot into the room where she was. Sure, she was there, and seemingly unharmed. Her horns, her small face, her blue silky hair : everything seemed to be there, everything but the light that had shone in her eyes, as she was lying on this cold bed. Her gaze lost in the depths of eternity, she looked as sentient as a cabbage. A delightful, mouth-watering cabbage with horns, but still...a cabbage.

 _She was like this when I found her._

Was Ohime trying to make a bad joke about Honey's state? Or was she just stating a cold, hard fact to her devastated guest? Hiro himself did not seem to be quite right in the head at the moment, and yet he reacted with considerable restraint. His blue eyes were full of sorrow, but no tear left them ; his fists were clinched so hard his knuckles were turning white, and yet he did not punch the nearest wall until his hands bled – and neither did he attack Ohime in a white-hot burning anger. Right now, his mind was probably a typhoon, but he was standing in its eye, transcending his pain in a frightening calm. That, or something had just broken inside of him and he was now as much of an useless piece of meat as his comatose partner, thought the princess with dread. Yeah, yeah, traumatic event and all, but that wasn't supposed to keep the chosen one from fulfilling his fate and avenge her people. She had a little sigh of relief when she saw him, a strange light in his eyes, turning back his head towards her and tell her, with a voice colder than the freezing winds of the Antarctica – or what was left of the continent in this APE-controlled era - :

"Is there a way to bring her back?"

Ohime spent a few seconds gazing at the stamen, a living image of icy determination. His gaze, his voice, his fluffy hair, his well-defined muscles, his faint but still virile smell...he was _utterly perfect_. Perfect, sure, but not prepared enough. He needed to be more than perfect. He needed to be _ready_. Clearing her thoughts, she gave him a half-smile before answering.

 _There is a way to bring her back...but that way is neither easy nor quick. And for this, you will need to be trained to become who you were_ REALLY _meant to be._

Once again, there was an awkward silence, before both of them started giggling – her answer had indeed been very cringeworthy and _cliché_ , and a bit of laughter to loosen the situation was badly needed right now. Hiro was smiling now – laughing was good for the soul, right? Ohime wouldn't lie to him : thanks to her, he would get Honey back, he was sure of it now. He just needed to become _who he really was_...whatever that meant. Probably training – though, to be fair, if that training was as pleasant as it had been with his former partner, it would be a walk in the park.

 _Former partner_. Yeah, that was the right choice of words. After all, Honey could not be his partner anymore in this sorry state. So for the time being, he would need another one, of course. And seeing how Ohime _clearly_ wanted to tutor him and be his new partner, why would he refuse? He quickly shut down the little voice inside his brain telling him to stay faithful to Honey and wary of Ohime ; without the princess' training, staying faithful would not bring his beloved back. In fact, he was even pretty sure Honey would _want_ him to undergo this training and become Ohime's partner – that, was she conscious right now, she would be begging on her knees to go through all of this and...

Wait, that part didn't make any sense in his mind. Whatever. The princess was waiting for him, a smug expression on her face. As their eyes met, the same thought crossed their minds.

 _This would be fun_.

* * *

"He's almost charismatic from here, don't you think, Werner?"

"Meh. Once you've heard him talk, that feeling goes away really quickly. And I've heard him talk _way_ to much, Amanda. Truly the offspring of Satan."

"Do you compare yourself to Satan?"

"I'm not going to answer this and you know it. Just...enjoy the view. I know you do. _Ara ara, my oh my, all those little stamens for me..._ "

"Asshole."

"Hag."

It seemed being forced to work together had not bore a very positive effect on the FranXX-FranXY relationship. In fact, to be honest, they were hating each other even more than ever before. At least, during the previous months, their interactions had been, well, less frequent. A few days, two weeks at most in-between. And now...they had to share an office together. Talk about a step down. It was an idea of the APE Council, to "cut redundancies" and "help them give the best of themselves". Of course, putting their two grumpy science archwizards in the same room to help them was an idea only the mad, the desperate and the corporate-minded would have found productive. At the very least, both could agree on a few ideas. Like, getting more research funding, or agreeing on their dire work conditions, but even that was hard to swallow sometimes. Hakase loathed his former student, who as a sultry lady was giving – or getting, depending on your point of views – many little _favors_ from the young stamens and not enough from faceless old men. And she hated her former teacher, a sadistic maniac with wandering hands who was _a lot_ older than she'd like, and who would probably tie her to a table and practice some mantis-style vivisectional coitus with her if she was stupid enough to be interested in his ass-groping.

For now, 003's speech was almost unintelligible. He was speaking with a whispering voice, a voice he was straining to make his whispers audible to the parasites gathered in front of him. He could just have spoken, but this would be, to him, a failure in maintaining his priviledged status in front of the rabble. As he was speaking, and speaking, he was starting to feel his mind drift. Towards _Hiro_ , of course. _Rent-free in my head_. Each second. Each minute. His scar, his pain. Everything. He stopped his speech for a moment, watching the parasites around him. A hint of fear in their faces. Good – just like his pistils, they needed to fear him. He would have to ask the old man about what had became of his _harem_ , as he said. Speaking of partners, an idea came to him.

"Who...among you all...was supposed to become _Hiro_ 's partner? Which one of you was supposed to ride with him, until he decided to _steal_ my Papa-given partner?"

He wasn't expecting an answer. Those parasites were _impure._ Wretched, imperfect creatures just good enough as folder and being sacrificed in the pointless sacrifice of undending war against...

"Code 703. I was supposed to become his partner."

He turned his head. A voice. A pistil. A young brown-haired women with eyes full of steely resolve. Hadn't she heard the venom of pure hatred dripping in his words, so overwhelming he was feeling the need to spit it out each and every time he finished a sentence? Couldn't she understand that she was risking death, by exposing herself to the ultimate predator in APE's forces? With a devious smile, the smile of one who has found his vulnerable prey and is ready to strike the _coup de grâce_ , he approached her – and with a determination probably far beyond any of her sheep-like colleagues, she held his gaze.

"I want you to understand..." he told her, his voice affecting a kinder, honeyed tone as he was now towering over her, ready for the kill, extending his hand like he had done a few...was it days, weeks?...towards her, almost lovingly. She moved back one step as he was about to touch her cheek - and strangle her like the last one, of course. His face hardened. No swift death in that case. Lunging on her, he managed to reach her arm as his smile, his smile was now going up to his ears. "...I'm not doing it because of something you did. I'm doing this because of what you are."

 _It was time to play._

She wasn't a girl in his claws. She was a _doll_. A poor, lost ragdoll, a ragdoll he would be happy, oh so happy to spin around a bit and _break_. A moan of anger-laced ecstasy escaped his lips as, shuttered in his own little world, he was focused on her utter destruction. Her arm already was showing three open wounds where bone had broken the skin, and her screams must have sounded like the suffering of the damned. Not that he cared or listened. He did not care when, weakened by this treatment, part of the arm stayed in his hand and her body was thrown against the wall. A part of his debt of pain towards Hiro had been repaid – as the rebel had stolen his former partner, he had destroyed Code 016's previous partner. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. In the supreme enjoyment of this devastation, he stood there, reborn and covered in blood splashes. Awakened.

The next thing he felt was a sharp, searing pain hitting the back of his head. Then his forehead. Was he...attacked back? That could not be. Not a single one of the worthless fodder would have the guts to do it and...In his vision blurred by pain and his ecstasy, he catched the form of a blue cane.

 _Hakase..._

He was down now, and yet the frail, lab-coat wearing scientist was still trying to break his cane on his bones, bludgeoning him like a dead horse. The man was heavily augmented, but still, this superhuman strength he was showing seemed born from more than man and machine. There was something in this flurry of blows that could only be caused by divine retribution. 003 was bleeding now, from arms and chest and legs and head. With the swiftness of a snake, the doctor reversed his grip on his cane, threatening the stamen's throat with a point of steel and titanium.

"Stay down you fucker, or I swear to Papa you will get back on the operation table, and this time there won't be anyone to patch you up afterwards." Hakase's voice was quivering, but there was more than anger and hatred inside it. There was sadness, and there was disgust, and above all... there was _disappointment_. "How dare you... _How fucking dare you_... Papa accepts to take you back after your utter failure, and that's how you treat his flock? You're disgraced...and you're a _disgrace_."

He saw 003 try to say something with his bruised lips, before cutting him off. "You still think you're _Papa's favorite,_ don't you? Well, time for you to learn something, kid. You're not _Papa's favorite_. You've never been _Papa's favorite_. Just an attack dog, and I can promise you, if you ever try to bite the hand that feeds you again with this kind of behavior, you WILL get put down like I should have done years ago."

As he looked around, the old man saw his busty colleague was already taking care of the crippled pistil, whose arm – what was left of it – looked as good as already gone. She was barking to nearby grunts and caretakers, ordering an immediate extraction to the lab, where, with a bit of luck, she could survive the 003-induced trauma. FranXX took a deep breath and, looking at the distraught young parasites around, decided to defuse the situation as much as he could.

"I'm really sorry you had to see that, kids. This stamen...let's just say he has _a lot_ of anger management problems. He will be...taught again how to be a good boy. Don't worry about him anymore. About your friend, I'm pretty sure we will be able to heal her and she will be back as soon as she can. Those wounds of hers seem pretty shallow, they're not _that_ deep." He explained, trying to sound as friendly as he could – his sharp blade still pressed on 003's throat. Most of the kids still seemed very afraid though, and he made the mental note to ensure the most affected of them would be purged of such unpleasant memories. For now, he would have to...reflect on his actions and what he had created. His pride. His crowning achievement. His biggest failure.

 _Time to see if the girls can play their part._

* * *

"How is the little pistil going?" he asked as she came back, a concerned look on her white face.

"Still unconscious – but at least, she will survive. A high code number...Without me pushing for it, they would have just euthanized her and written it off as _acceptable loss_."

"You did the right thing, Amanda." FranXX whispered, his gloved hands crunched over his cane, who here and there showed brown marks where the blood of his creature had dried. Now, there was none of the thundering, primal power he had used to stop 003 in the decrepit and frail man. In fact, he was shivering, both because of his fatigue and because of the complex mix of emotions coursing through his brain. Pain, anger, sadness, regret, deception – everything that had fueled his fury, was bringing him down now. "How did we come to this, Amanda?" he asked, with a voice that sounded weaker, more tired, than usual.

Little did he know, the same question was asked in the COSMOS flying fortress, where Hachi had brought the incident report to the high command of APE. A 700+ code number being dismembered was one thing, one they could send without a glance in the "Who the hell cares, guys?" box. That this pistil had been dismembered out of the battlefield was more serious, and would have at least warranted a few hums of surprise. With 003 in the equation, grunts of pained embarrassment and angry discomfort would be part of the forecast. But now...oh boy.

"So let me get this _straight...How did we come to this?"_ announced one of the councilmen. "Just to be sure I'm not mingling facts – the Nettle, after being wrecked by a lone rebel stamen, was brought back and received his new assignment as the _Parasite Representative_. During his first speech in front of the young stamens, he randomly decided to mangle one of the pistils...he then was stopped by Hakase, who, to quote the report, _beat the shit out of the little fucker_. What the hell?"

"I's interesting to note the pistil girl was supposed to become Code 016's partner had he followed his normal progression. She was...Code 703, according to the file." Another one mused in.

"Wait, why do we partner subpar pilots pistils with god-tier stamens again?" the female member of the council asked, seeming genuinely concerned about this plot hole of the original material.

"It was an idea of Werner." Papa explained with his calm, soft voice. "Also, in the report, he asks for 'more funding' as he can't rely on Code 003 anymore and is looking for alternative keys seeing as 003 is too unstable to function correctly."

"Yeah, he also asked for our consent to implant, inside Code 003's head, a _device which could alternately zap the faggot or transform his head into space dust_. His words, not mine. When are we going to stop letting this...buffoon dictate the fate of our entire science department? First, he accepts to play it safer after what happened with Code 016, and now _this_ happens?!" The councilman talking was the one who had started the discussion, and was seemingly growing increasingly angry about the old pervert's demands. "I mean, what has Dr. FranXX ever done for us?! What has he ever given us in return for his ever-growing funding?"

An awkward silence followed his question, before one of the other councilmen raised a timid hand to answer the rhetorical question he had thrown in the meeting room.

"The hybrids?"

"What?"

"Oh, yeah, he gave us the hybrids. That's thanks to him if we have four...well, three keys. With one of them unstable. But that still counts, right?" Another one added.

"Sure, alright, he gave us the hybrids..." the angry councilman conceded. "But apart from the hybrids? What has this _Hakase_ ever given us?"

"The mindwipe process?"

"Oh, yeah, that really helped us, and that helped the grunts. Remember when the process didn't exist? That shit got very useful very fast, trust me."

"Fine, fine, the mindwipe process and the hybrids are two things I'm willing to give credit for to Dr. FranXX. But apart from that?"

"The FranXX?"

"Well, of course, the FranXX! The FranXX go without saying, isn't it?"

The discussion continued for a few minutes. Papa himself, hands joined, seemed quite pleased at the situation, pleased at the growing conflict between his friends and allies. Conflict was weeding out weakness, competition bred strength and efficiency. Though this one, apparently, was short-lived, as everyone finally agreed about the decisive contributions of the old doctor to the cause of APE, and decided to focus on more interesting decisions – such as the color of the new blankets and the logistics of laxatives production. It was finally agreed that the blankets should be white, as it was a color of purity and royalty, and that _clearly_ the science department would need to produce more potent intestinal relaxants for the exclusive use of the council. As the time was running out, one last question was raised in the COSMOS meeting room.

"Guys, did somebody see the Vice-Assistant guy?" The councilwoman asked, a bit puzzled at the lack of rapping during the meeting.

"He's meeting his probation officer."

* * *

The room was big, bigger in fact that any room Hiro had seen in the Garden, even if it clearly was smaller than the throne room where Ohime had taught him about the dreadful past of her people. Millions of years ago, it probably was able to gather hundreds of klaxxosapiens under its decorated roof, which was displaying a surprisingly accurate rendition of the starry night. Well, at the very least, something which probably would have been a surprisingly accurate rendition of the starry night dozens of millions of years ago. As once again he was following Ohime, Hiro started worrying about the logistics of keeping this place intact for such a long time. Were the continents even at the same place this long ago? Wouldn't this civilization's remnants be dust in the wind if they were so old? However, he couldn't ask such a question to his ally and...friend. Questioning the age of these seemed like a good way to check if she was still as pretty when she was angry as when she was kind and welcoming. Instead, he decided to go for a more...innocuous question.

"Ohime...Those are the constellations your people saw in the stars, right? What are they meaning?"

 _Just let me show you some of them_.

As she was answering him, she slithered around him, a hand on his shoulder to stabilize herself, and took his arm with her other hand, directing it to point at some interesting the help of her tentacles, she was now as tall as him and her face was at the same level as his own. Before she started pointing, he took a glance at her slightly blushing cheeks, her big gentle blue eyes, her thin lips stretched on a sincere smile. With their proximity, he could now smell her faint flowery scent. However, he quickly averted his eyes when she looked at him, not wanting to let her know about what she was awakening in him, even as her "training" had not even started yet. _Calm down Hiro. Just think of the stars and listen to her voice._

 _Alright. Here are the Little Horn and the Big Horn – and inside the Big Horn, the Tip of the Horn star, which showed the direction towards the north. Here is the Paradise Flower, and there, around it, is the Tail. And this,_ she added, while pointing to a part of the roof where, strangely, no gem was shining, _is what my people called the Big Mistake. There were legends, once, about the stars that were found in this shadow, telling us that outerwordly beings erased them after seeing obscene shapes in their layout. I guess it's some kind of cosmic irony that the realm of VIRM came from this region of outer space..._

Hiro heard her sighing with sorrow as she remembered the dreadful past, the tragic fate, of her people. There was probably no words to express the solitude, the hatred and the sadness Ohime was feeling every second of every waking moment. However, with a gaze that seemed hardened, she let go of him, before strolling towards the center of the room. She had told him about how this place had been used as a meditation center for the most psychically sensitive, as a sanctum to refocus their minds and reach inner harmony. Of course, with the war against VIRM, fewer and fewer of her brethren had been coming here...until the time when they had commited their lives in the ultimate sacrifice.

 _Come with me, Hiro. Let me help you make the first step on this path._

As they were about to sit on the ground, Ohime produced two pillows she seemed to have kept in her tentacles just in that case. What a nice attention of hers : the ground itself was cold, hard stone, and Hiro wasn't really feeling like meditating without a way to keep his ass comfy. Both of them sat here, less than a meter between them. The young stamen tried to imitate her stance, before closing his eyes like she did. A few seconds later, as he was trying to focus on something that wasn't the memory of Ohime's curves – and wasn't Honey's body either, for that matter – he felt once again the princess take his hand in his own. This time, for an unexplained reason, it seemed colder than ever before. A cold that slowly creeped on him, freezing his joints as his shivering mind found itself farther and farther away from the cage of his body. Faint images were coming to him now. A gigantic teal robot...creatures full of blue ichor and golden cores...a blue and gold dragon, wreathed in blue flames...another robot, covered in black spikes, wielding a sword that was clearly too big for it...the pictures were going faster and faster now, some of them, he was sure of it, not being part of his memories.

 _Open your eyes._

He did. Thinking back about it, maybe he shouldn't have : now the room around them had disappeared, replaced by swirling darkness and uneasy feelings. Ohime, in front of him, was producing an eerie blue light, a glow which was keeping the night away. Right now, Hiro had no idea if these sights were produced by his mind or if all of this, around him, was real. Fortunately, he didn't have to wonder long, seeing as the next thoughts that came to his mind, coming directly from Ohime's mind, were there to answer his questions.

 _What you are seeing here is an allegory of the difference between what you_ can _perceive – that is, me and a little bit of the outside world – and what you can't. Our goal here will be to...open your mind and make you more receptive to what lies beyond, so that your gaze can pierce the darkness around you. Don't worry, I'll help you broaden it all._

"So you're telling me you're going to help me banish this darkness so that only light and clarity remain in my line of sight? So that I could stand at peace, alone in the light?"

 _Not exactly. I'm going to show you your demons, you're going to wrestle with them until you manage to tame them. And trust me, there's big game waiting for you out there. You're not going to have it easy, young prince._

He could nearly hear a giggle in her voice as she mocked him with the honorifics, showing him how much she was happy to toy with him. Or maybe was she just _really_ happy to help him take his first steps on the road to ascension. Steeling his resolution, he answered.

"Hmf. Bring it on, little princess."

Her smile grew wider and, as she clapped twice, so did the glow around her. After a few seconds, the light should have been powerful enough to banish even the most tenacious shadows in the room. The important word here was _should_ , seeing as all around him, a veil of oily darkness was still managing to hold its ground against this beaming assault, seemingly unaffected by the glow. It was an ever-moving whirlwind of shadows, a shambling horror born from outside what the human mind could conceive or imagine. Hiro's morbid curiosity got the better of him, however, and he continued examining the _thing_ , which, despite its inhuman nature, did not seem hostile but rather playful.

 _Well? We have no time to dally with your training, Hiro. Introduce yourself to this..._ monster _, and get down with it, so that we can go on._

Stifling a sigh at her haughty tone, who was proving that the princess persona was never far beyond the mask of the nice blue girl, Hiro slowly extended his hand towards the maelstrom of swirling obscurity – which, in return, extended a tendril, a slick, oily, smily tentacle of mingled matter and energy. When they touched at last, the contact was...unpleasant to say the least, the tendril grasping and clinging around Hiro's hand with a weird, outerworldly strength ; in the meantime, the rest of the eldritch abomination was gathering around it, becoming stronger, more present and material. Moreover, it nearly seemed to take a humanoid form now...well, a humanoid form that still was made of a dark, inhuman flesh, a sinister parody of life. For a few seconds, Hiro looked at it developping into a fully material body. Or at the very least, a fully material body in this mental realm of his, illuminated by Ohime's beacon of light. He sighed once again.

"So, that's what she said about taming my demons, huh?" he whispered, his eyes unable to wander away from the two black holes in this monster's face. "Never thought my dark part was supposed to be so big, but I guess I'm not objective enough."

 **THAT IS BECAUSE I'M NOT YOUR DARK PART, MASTER. I'M YOUR BRIDE OF BLOOD AND YOUR MAIDEN OF DARKNESS. I SHALL BE YOUR SPEAR AND YOUR ARMOR UNTIL THE TIDES OF FATE TRY TO TAKE US APART – AND EVEN THEN WILL OUR CRIES ERASE THE STARS THEMSELVES. AND I'M NOT THAT BIG.**

" _Master?_ So that's what you really look like inside, Gladiolus?" In a way, Hiro was relieved to be able to talk to the murderous spirit. With Ohime's presence always numbing his senses, he had nearly forgotten about the pact with the ancient hungry, beast whose mind was lurking inside his FranXX. Maybe...maybe this could be the moment to learn a little more about the bloodthirsty creature. First interesting fact : though the voice was, once again, clearly alien and monstrous, there was a soft edge of feminity to it. The monster, if monster it _really_ was, was a lady.

 **DO NOT JUDGE ME, MASTER. AEONS AGO, I LOOKED LIKE** ** _HER_** **, BEFORE I WENT TO FIGHT AGAINST THE LEGIONS OF VIRM. BEFORE I MERGED LIFE AND MACHINE IN A HURRICANE OF MAD FURY...BEFORE YOUR MISTAKEN RACE DESTROYED ME, ONLY TO REMAKE MY BODY IN A WRETCHED PARODY OF MY ANCIENT FORM...I MAY NOT BE YOUR PRETTIEST ALLY, BUT I SWEAR UPON THE DEAD STARS I WILL BE THE DEADLIEST.**

"Trust me, Gladiolus, I'm not judging you... for now, let's just talk about that pact we made...also, about what happened later, my memories are still a bit blurry. Oh, and my first sortie, I still have a bit of a gaping hole in my memory when I try to remember it."

 **YOUR FIRST SORTIE WAS GLORIOUS, MASTER. THIS BATTLE JUST NEEDED MORE ENERGY THAN YOU HAD. YOUR** ** _PARTNER_** **FINISHED THE FIGHT HERSELF. ABOUT THE PACT –** ** _EVEN MORE_** **GLORIOUS. JUST LIKE THE HEROES OF THE ANCIENT WARS, WE MERGED IN AN UNION OF SLAUGHTER AND CARNAGE SUCH AS THE WORLD TOO RARELY SEES. A MARRIAGE OF BLOOD, A WEDDING NIGHT OF PAIN FOR OUR COWARDLY ENEMIES! I LONG FOR THE DAY WE WILL BE REUNITED ANEW IN THE BATTLEFIELD, MASTER, AS I DESIRE NO OTHER LOVER FOR WHEN AGAIN COMES THE TIME TO BLOW THE HORN OF ANNIHILATION.**

As the voice of Gladiolus was half-purring half-roaring in his mind and ears – still difficult to say which, due to the...weird circumstances – Hiro felt himself shivering. At the very least, in all matters of love and seduction, Honey had been gentle and subtle, and Ohime was _probably_ trying, too, to be as stealthy as she could. But that? That wasn't subtle, that wasn't gentle, that wasn't stealthy. These words had the brutality of a well-performed bludgeoning between the eyes...and yet, in this rough declaration of eternal partnership, there was a refreshing honesty. Besides, it was cute, in a way, to hear a creature who had been a war machine for untold eras tell him these things. He cleared his throat, before smiling and continuing :

"That's very nice to hear and I'm glad that you see me as a worthy partner in battle, Gladiolus..." he said, seeing the being of dark energy litteraly vibrating with pleasure at the mere mention of her name and her master's gratitude. "However, I'd like to know more about this _pact_ we made. You know, the terms, the price to pay, the benefits to reap..."

 **FAIR ENOUGH, MASTER OF MINE. THE FIRST BENEFIT OF THIS TETHER WE FORGED IN THE FIRES OF BATTLE WAS THE SURVIVAL OF YOUR PETTY MORTAL PARTNER. THE SECOND PART OF THIS COMPACT WAS OUR ETERNAL UNION – IN WAR AND PEACE SHALL WE BE TOGETHER FOREVER, CLOSER THAN THE TWINS AND THE MARRIED. AS YOUR WIFE IN WAR, I'LL BE YOUR STRENGTH, THE STEEL IN YOUR HANDS AND AROUND YOUR BODY, EVERY TIME YOU SHOULD FALTER IN BATTLE. AS MY HUSBAND IN BATTLE, YOU SHALL GUIDE US INTO VICTORY, BE THE PILOT OF OUR SHIP AND THE HAND GUIDING OUR BLADE. WE SHALL BE ONE, IN MY BODY OR IN YOURS.**

"This definitely sounds more like wedding vows than a normal contract..." Hiro wondered aloud. "Are you sure there's no fine script or something? Not that I don't trust you or anything, it's just..."

 **WHY SHOULD THERE BE? A LIFE FOR A LIFE, A PARTNER FOR A PARTNER. I DON'T HAVE QUALMS WITH YOU LYING WITH** _ **HER**_ **OR WITH ANY OTHER ONE, AS LONG AS WE'RE AS FAITHFUL TO EACH OTHER IN THE FLAMES OF BATTLE AS WE SHOULD BE. I WAITED AEONS FOR A WORTHY HUSBAND TO ROAM THE BATTLEFIELD WITH ME – I HAVE NO INTEREST IN TRICKING YOU OUT OF YOUR SOUL, YOUR SANITY, OR WHATEVER TRICKSTERS TRICK YOU OUT OF IN THE LEGENDS OF YOUR PEOPLE.**

"Of course, if you put it that way...Do we just stay here, looking at each other, or is there anything to do now?"

Gladiolus, an entity that had been called many a dreadful name across the eras and the centuries, did not answer. Or at the very least, her answer wasn't what Hiro was prepared for, as she jumped on him for a kiss that burned his lips and his mind, throwing him back to the ground as her presence in his mind and body was felt again, more than ever before – she knew him like the back of her hand, and the reverse was true. As he was getting up, his eyes getting back to the cold reality, he saw Ohime looking at him with a mix of contempt and disappointment, her arms and legs crossed as she was carried by her tentacles to stay off the ground, as if the stone surface was lava.

 _Of all the options you had, you choose the most disastrous, Hiro. I cannot say I'm proud of you._

Hiro did not answer as he still tried to accustom to the full measure of his...what was the term she had used, _bride of blood_? That seemed pretty accurate. A few hours ago, when she had talked to him before disappearing, probably muted by Ohime's presence, she had seemed like a shadow in the corner of his eye, an imp standing on his shoulder. Now, she was his whole being, and he was hers. There was no distinction about where he finished and where she began, not even on a philosophical level. His eyes opened wide as he felt something like long nails teasing his back and stroking his shoulders, making him shiver wildly ; as a lover separated from her mate, Gladiolus was gauging Hiro and getting accustomed herself to the body of the stamen even as she whispered in his brain. _**An union of minds. A mingling of souls. Mine forever, dear master.**_

"What do you mean, Ohime? Gladiolus seems rather...nice. She's brutally honest, but I like that."

 _In the old times, she was the most ruthless and the most bloodthirsty of our kind. She was the doom of our enemies, and every single one of the battles she fought in, she won. But at what price? She was as generous with the blood of our race as she was with her violence. In the old times, when we were numerous and powerful, that may have been a way to fight, but now? We're alone against a world of ningens. Our blood is too precious to spill it without a_ very _good reason._

 _ **Do not listen to her. I swore to protect you. She's not bound to you like I am. She has no idea of the oath we share. She's not your**_ **bride** ** _._**

For a split second, pushed by the mischievous voice inside his head, Hiro saw Ohime, not as the blue princess of a strange, extinct race, working with an interesting _ningen_ to bring the fight to her ancient enemies, but as a pompous, spoiled kid, ordering around beings that were her obvious betters. A wind of rebellion grew inside him as he felt the want, the _need_ to get her to submit, by any means, breaking her like a twig if needed. The second afterwards, the feeling was gone, replaced by hunger and exhaustion.

"We will probably talk about this later...but for now, I need food and sleep."

 _She's already draining your life force. You shouldn't let her get away with it._

 _ **I am not!**_

As once again the two elder entities started bickering at him, Hiro felt empty. Was that his fate, be the pawn on some chess game by old klaxxosapiens ladies, ancient spirits and probably older-than-mankind prophecies? Though he shouldn't be joking about it, seeing as that last part could be true as well – after all, maybe the ancient klaxxosaurs had this stuff too. Right now, he needed Honey.

* * *

Her cell. The quiet center of her little universe. A little universe that had been breached a while ago, in the literal sense of the term. For a long time, it was mostly suffering, with the _Old Man_ and his tools. He was ruthless and imaginative in his quest for his "data", which, most of the time, involved breaking her with pain, destroying her nerves with the efficiency of a trained torturer. Maybe this was his true nature, all his words about finding the truth being only a veil to hide his sadistic impulses. For a long time, she had thought every single person in this world was under his command, every single one of them as wretched and devious as the _Old Man._

Until the coming of her _prince_.

Just like the prince of her book, he had been handsome, and gentle, and kind. He had showed her a world beyond her cage, a world where she could be free and be with him. He even had given her a _name_. Truth be told, she wasn't sure about what it meant – but he had one, and he had done it himself, so it was OK. Code 002, which _he_ had nicknamed 02, wasn't exactly bright about this kind of stuff. His name, the name of her savior, was still burning in her memories. _Hiro_.

The door opened. She growled with anger – it was probably him again with his guards, going to chain her again to one of those nasty devices and...and her growling changed in a groan of surprise when she saw the person entering her cell. A small, slender woman in a light green uniform, sporting hair...and little horns...of the same color. The sharp senses of the little red gremlin smelled on her a faint scent of vanilla, which was however unimportant compared to the delicious smell of food coming from the bag she was carrying. The woman's cold expression soften as she noticed the little creature, even flashing 02 a smile, before closing the door after her

"Hello, Code 002. I am...a friend, here to help you."

As she said those words, she saw the little being growing slowly more and more interested in her. Most likely, she couldn't understand her words, but the tone and the general attitude were enough to get her more friendly, bringing her closer to this mysterious woman. _Two_ nice people in a row? Looked like a good week indeed. The interest and curiosity displayed by 02 reached their peak when her new friend took her bag and, rummaging through it, produced a hand-sized cardboard package with a powerful scent of oil and meat, before opening it and giving it to her.

There wasn't many words in Code 002's vocabulary – most of her painful existence had been a painful succession of painful experiments. But the look on her face, the way her eyes grew three sizes, her moaning and her open mouth, everything screamed rapture and ecstasy, even before she started devouring the thing. Hot meat, cheese, sauce, in an oily bun : for a lot of people working as APE staff, this was a quick hunger-stopper when the day was long and hard. But for the experiment subject, fed only when the tests of the week needed her stomach to be in working order, this was heaven on earth. She was so focused on eating as quickly as possible the Papa-Deluxe-Bacon XL that her new best friend had given her that she did not even notice her patting her pink hair.

"Don't worry, you're safe, now. Bad times are over. Just...try to eat less messily, you got mayo everywhere on you..." she laughed lightly as most of 02's face was now stained with various sauces, and tried to clean her up with her thumb, getting most of the rebellious sauce in gremlin's toothy mouth.

"Ma...yon? MAYON! MAYON!"

02 was now clinging to the uniformed woman, who tried to stifle a groan of powerlessness as the remaining culinary fluids were now getting on her formerly squeaky clean suit. By the grunts and screams of the little creature, she seemed to want her to get this word as a nickname. Maybe she thought that was the word for _burger_ or something. At the very least the gremlin seemed to be happy now, and insisted on showing her guest her picture book, which the guest, with a light sigh, decided to read to 02. Well-fed and entertained, the little one was just sitting here in a stupor as the story was unfurled in front of her eyes. The beast princess, the prince, the witch, the marriage...it was at that part that she seemed to wake up from her trance, as she .

"Hiro? Hiiiiro?"

"How do you know...You still remember this incident, right?"

You could nearly see the gears in her head turning and grinding as she was trying, desperately, to tell something to the young one, before her big mouth and her limited vocabulary sealed her fate in a stupid way. If the report, and her memories, were accurate, there was big trouble in sight. After a few seconds, she had something, her lips forming the biggest smile she could and her mind the biggest lie she had managed to find. One day, this would be their doom, to both of them, but for now there was no other choice.

"Listen to me, Code 002. Hiro is...gone in his magical realm, and we must never speak of him again. Understood? He told me that he would be back for you when you would be a grown woman, but now you must obey me...understood?

Of course, there was no way for her to know if 02 had understood her. That plot point would probably be adressed in the future, with proper education, learning to talk, to write, and everything else. For now, she could only hope, going out of the cell with a wink at the little devil.

"So, is my dino still in working order?"

The voice was old and croaky, and belonged to the only character unlucky enough to be described with his age and sexual perversion every time he appeared in a scene. The woman tightened her hands in a fist, her knuckles whitening as her nails drew blood from the palm of her hand. Her answer had the edge of a blade, the venom of a cobra, the coldness of a lone iceberg.

"This is not your _dino_ anymore. Neither am I – Papa made sure of that. With the reactivation of the Key program, Code 002 is not to be a test subject anymore. She needs to become a full-fledged parasite."

"So, she's going to become 003's partner, right? Damn, Papa must really hate her."

A loud, oppressive silence lingered over them for a few seconds, before the woman answered, spitting her words at FranXX like throwing knives.

"She _won't_ become his partner..."

"But Papa and his..."

" _I_ will."

These were her last words before she turned aside and walked away, letting the old, decrepit man ponder the fate of his experiment subjects with a half-smile.

 _So be it, Code 004. So be it._

* * *

Two weeks ago, the gaunt young man sitting near his now comatose partner had been an elite pilot, a stamen fated to protect mankind and its rulers from the shadowy threat of the mysterious klaxxosaurs, bio-mechanical beasts only the magma weaponry of giant robots could affect in meaningful ways. Two weeks ago, he had been seen as a prodigy, a legend who would, one day, be the link between the _parasites_ , the pilots and fighters in this world for mankind, and their _Papa_ , the supreme overlord of this united humanity. Two weeks ago, he was the partner of the most beautiful, kind, gentle girl in the world.

Now, where was he? What was his purpose? He had tried to save a little red experiment subject, had seen his partner nearly die in front of him, had made an alliance with a very ancient and very bloodthirsty creature and with the princess of the klaxxosaur race, which had once been space-faring humanoid beings turned into warmachines during a war against aliens aeons ago. And he was pretty sure there was a link between his girlfriend and partner, and the princess which he had allied to. Lots of things in a few days, enough adventures to make most people want to go back to their hole under a hill. And of course, that clearly wasn't over. _No getting off this wild ride,_ Hiro thought as he was holding Honey's hand in his own, feeling her faint heartbeat under his fingers.

 _ **You have a great taste in partners. This one is strong, maybe stronger than you. A fierce fighter. Full of life and energy.**_

"Are you mocking her because she was there before you?" Hiro asked, his voice cold and bitter.

 _ **I am not, my liege. I have nothing but respect for someone who could manage to ride my metal form to battle without losing their life in the process. I hope that, one day, she will be able to join us again in the slaughter.**_

"Yeah, I hope too..." whispered Hiro, focused on Honey. "That would be a sight to behold."

 _ **A glorious one at that, master. Like my pack of hunters at the Gates of the Dying Flower, we shall once again taste blood together. This one will be a fine addition to our own pack, I'm sure of it. Never once have I been wrong about a fellow killer. I won't be wrong about her. And I won't be wrong about you.**_

"We'll see about that, though right now I don't think she's able to kill...We will have to find a way to get her back to normal."

 _ **Hmf. I am well versed in the arts of bleeding a body dry, but bringing one back to life? That goes way beyond my knowledge and powers, dear master. A pity – the living are a lot more willing to talk than the dead, and in the trades of war and carnage, information is everything.**_

 _However,_ I _know how you could._

Hiro smelled Ohime's scent and heard her thoughts in his mind even before he saw her enter the room. His empty stomach reminded him about the necessity of getting something to eat, but fortunately the little blue princess had seemingly decided to bring enough food for the two of them. What she gave him was a long, slender loaf of weird, crusty bread, stuffed with...judging by the smell, whatever she had found. There was a bit of chewy meat, a lot of mushrooms, and a thick, spicy sauce whose taste was hiding the rest under its flavor.

 _ **A meal fit for battle. Eat, master. You will...We will need your strength for the days to come.**_

 _For once, your parasite is right. There's more to your training than just listening to her tales of war and how she got most of her soldiers killed during the battles against VIRM and the Nyanxx. With a bit of luck, you won't end up like them, with only a shrug from Gladiolus as you meet your fate._

 _ **Unlike**_ **you** ** _, I have never failed my brethren. I have never cowered in front of the enemy, never once have I been hiding from them because of my rank or title or lineage. That's more than we can say about you,_** **Princess** ** _..._**

Ohime's hand struck swift and true, slapping Hiro's cheek so hard that his head turned, a few tidbits of his mouthful of food getting out of his mouth. That came out as a big surprise for him – there was no way in hell he could have imagined she was _this_ strong. And no way in hell that he'd imagine her breaking her regal composure to hit him in the face. Before he could react, the princess started talking, telepathically of course, again.

 _Fine, Hiro. Time to go to the next step of your training. Hope you and your...mad bitch will have what it takes. Come with me when you're finished...and don't expect any kindness from me in the future. These times are over. Right now, you're a tool for our cause. Nothing more._

As she was storming out of the room, Hiro couldn't help but stand there, confused at the situation. So, if he understood correctly...Now Ohime was angry at him because of whatever old grudges her and Gladiolus were carrying from the old times, and because he had accepted to join fates with the bloodthirsty hellion without any qualms with her behavior. Probably. Thinking about it, there had been a sighificant lack of ogling from his end since he had merged totally with the creature : was she unable to influence his mind now? Was the presence of Gladiolus a ward against her unwanted manipulations?

 _ **Of course, master. She wants you to be her willing tool, a slave ready to grovel in front of her for a chance to lick her feet. I just want a partner to leap with me in the fires of battle...unlike her, I have no interest in ruling over you.**_

"What is she expecting from us now?"

 _ **If she still respects the old laws of our race, the next step after a blow is some kind of fight. Until submission, or first blood. Anyway, dear master, we better win this next trial. I know she wants to use us in her secret war against VIRM and the rest of mankind, but losing a duel against her would be a sure way to get demoted to cook or bed warmer.**_

Hiro smiled as he finished his meal. Being Ohime's bed warmer probably wouldn't be such an atrocious fate for him, but for Gladiolus? Hell on earth. He stretched a bit before following the hallway the princess had taken with a sigh. His last hand-to-hand fight against Honey had been messy and playful, but he had prevailed at the end, without even exploiting the numerous unfair weaknesses he could have. Playful indeed, but it still had been a fight, not a cuddling and flirting session. That had been for later. Now, he would have to fight an unknown enemy whose powers and fighting prowesses were probably beyond his imagination.

 _ **Her mental tricks? Probably, but that would be cheating. Dishonor and contempt on her and her lineage if she ever tried it. But fighting fair? Trust me, she won't last long against us.**_

"...I still don't know what else she can do with these tails..." whispered Hiro as he followed the hallway.

 _ **Probably a lot, but she was a princess, not a warrior like I was in the golden times. Most uses of her tails indubitably involve getting things on high shelves when she has no lackey to do it for her and make sure her royal feet don't touch the ground us non-royals have to tread.**_

As Hiro entered yet another room, probably the one where the ordeal would take place, his jaw dropped by a few centimeters at the sight of Ohime in what, he supposed, was her battle attire. Most of her upperbody and her thighs were now covered by what looked like a light, nearly ethereal, silver chainmail – however, her forearms, calves and belly were still mostly bare, even if her black markings were still there. Her tails were joined in one thick, single tentacle and she had seemingly renounced floating around, wearing now a pair of tiny sandals whose strips nearly went up to her knees. Nevertheless, the most stunning part of her changes was in her hair. Literally a few minutes ago, her long, flowing, silky hair were falling down to her ankles ; now, most of them were gathered in a white ponytail, nearly as thick as her mingled tails. Where she had been, until then, the exiled, throne-bound princess of a fallen kingdom, she was now looking like a warrior at last, ready to crush her enemies under her heel. Around her neck and circling her head were shining some kind of regalian symbol for her people, a stylized bird bound in silver, and in her hand she was bearing a heavy metal staff. Once again grew in Hiro the impulsive, tyrannical desire to _own_ her, _possess_ her, make her his _toy_. A little princess trying to play the warrior would be so delightful to break, wouldn't it? Adrenaline and other less known chemicals were coursing through his veins as he was focusing his burning gaze on her, slowly licking his lips. And once again, just like the last time, these ideas quickly disappeared, only letting behind them the feeling of them being...artificial.

 _ **I can make her crawl at your feet and beg for your mercy, master. We will do it. Together.**_

 _Unless you want to painfully discover how weak your bride is, I'd advise you to stop listening to her. Now take a staff, and let's dance together._

A staff. Of all the weapons Hiro had been trained with during his time with Honey, the staff had been one of the least used, at least not this metallic version, about a meter and a half long. Still, that probably wouldn't be harder to use than most of the stuff he had to master in his time as a _special specimen_ – which, even as it had ended less than a few weeks before, already seemed like a different era. He had a faint smile as he remembered the day they had tried, and miserably failed, to teach him how to use a man-portable missile launcher. Why APE's brass wanted their special agents to know the occult art of using such weapons when only magma weaponry was able to damage klaxxosaurs was one of the biggest mysteries he had ever met. According to Honey, it was just about "stupid bureaucracy".

Without ever stopping watching her, Hiro saluted the princess with one swift movement, using it to gauge the balance and the weight of the weapon. It was heavier than what he was used to, and he probably couldn't use it to cut Ohime down, but that was probably the intended point. She was testing him, not trying to kill him. He just hoped that both of them would learn something of the experience. Unlike her, he did not have any kind of special protection, so he would need to rely on pure speed and accuracy to avoid injuries. Once again, he had no idea to gauge her abilities for now. But hey...neither did she.

 _This fight will end once you submit, or once the first blood is shed. Now show me your worth, child of the Ningens._

In a quick jaunt, she was upon him, delivering a flurry of blows upon him with her staff. Every single one of them was parried by Hiro's weapon, who was staying in a defensive stance, holding it with his two hands to deflect her assault. Even though she was slender and agile, her fighting style itself was crude and brutish, as she seemed more focused on pummeling Hiro into the ground than getting a tactical advantage on the young stamen. She was going for what Honey used to call an _alpha strike_ : going all-out at the very start, trying to take him down in the first seconds, without giving a thought to what the rest of the fight could be. Such a reckless abandon was the mark of the scornful and of the impatient. If that first assault failed, she would probably end up in a bad position, open to a counter-attack from Hiro's end. He just had to be patient, endure the storm, and make sure to exploit the weak points in her defense afterwards.

However, he understood a bit too late how much stamina Ohime had in her, and was forced to retreat. Her attacks were not only swift and powerful, they also _just wouldn't stop coming_. Staying on the defensive and hoping to withstand her until she got tired and made a mistake wasn't an option when she could keep it up all day. Maybe this fight would be more interesting than previously thought. He brought his staff in front of him again with a wide, sweeping arc, keeping Ohime at bay for a mere second before having to parry again her angry, wild attacks. Of course, her feral offensive was keeping her flanks open – but with her speed, trying to land a single hit on her would have exposed Hiro to a devastating blow. The truth was clear to him now : he had neither the speed, the strength or stamina to keep up with hers. As he was deflecting, at the last possible moment, an attack that would have shattered his shoulder, he felt a little voice whisper in his ear, slithering at the edge of his consciousness.

 _ **Give me the order, master. Let me offer you her defeat.**_

A part of him wanted it. A part of him wanted the sweet, sweet revenge on the blue princess, for her slap and her insults. Wanted to see her beaten and bloodied, just alive enough to cry for her mother and beg for mercy. If her submission was the key to win this ordeal, then her submission he would achieve. And yet...Hiro felt like this part of him was just the shadow of Gladiolus, teasing his thoughts, breathing in his neck and getting him more and more eager to listen to her words. There was something sinister and insidious in the way she was influencing his inner feelings and base emotions to get him to embrace her power further. Her and Ohime weren't so different in their methods, in a way. Hiro steeled his resolve, countering another blow and leaping out of range. If he could not fight harder, he had to fight smarter. Loosening the grip on his weapon, he started panting, affecting the pained look and slow moves of someone with a hurt ankle. Smelling the blood on the water, Ohime jumped him once again for the kill, using her tail to propel herself towards the stamen. The trap sprung at this moment, Hiro dodging at the last moment and striking with all his might towards her own ankles. The arms may have been the one using the staff, but, without the legs, all their might would be wasted. His blow landed, connecting however a bit higher than he would have liked ; there was no cracking sound of a broken ankle, just a yelp of surprise and pain as the staff hit at mid-calf. She still managed to land on her feet, her gaze expressing in equal measure anger, surprise and interest. The first hit of the battle, and him, a _goddamn ningen_ , had taken it. Hiro himself, seeing her ponder her options, executed a quick flourish with his staff as a little taunt, a sly smile on his lips while she was frowning at him. A second later, she was on him, unleashing a barrage of attacks with a speed he couldn't fathom. One blow, two blows, three...Of course, she had been toying with him from the start. Well, anyway, it was time to see what kind of stuff Gladiolus was offering. Deflecting one last blow, he took a deep breath and whispered :

"Gladiolus...now."

 _ **My gift are yours to command, master.**_

Black ice seemed to invade every single one of his veins as the shadowy entity started showing off her true power. Time nearly slowed to a halt as every single detail of his surroundings was now revealed to Hiro with an exhilarating precision. His staff was light as a feather in his hand, one he would be more than happy to stroke Ohime with. Seeing her own weapon, comically slow, trying to hit her head, he quickly parried it, the violence of the impact seemingly reverberating in the princess' wrists and arms. With his other hand, now free, he quickly hit her bare belly, feeling Gladiolus' primal rage at her rival exult as Ohime's eyes bulged from the shock and pain. As she was reeling in agony, he struck again, harder, eliciting tears of pain from her. She was staggered, in a world of pain, and now she wasn't even the stronger or faster in the arena. Another blow from Hiro towards her ankles, found, this time, its target – and she was swept like a leaf in the autumn wind. As she was falling down, Hiro struck again, crippling her tail with a precise strike. He had no idea how this was supposed to work but Gladiolus probably had, as the tail withered to the ground, paralyzed. The blue princess was at his mercy, here and now. This ornament mail of her had not protected her against his might. Her staff had been of no use against his skill. What was she, now? Just a pathetic wretch, an useless kid unworthy of leading their realm against VIRM. He slowly raised his staff above his head, ready to finish the job.

 _Please, Hiro. I...As much as I despise to admit it, I submit._

 _ **DO NOT LISTEN TO HER! YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO KILL, TO WIN, TO RULE! DO NOT LET IT SLIP AWAY!**_

For a second, Hiro's grasp on the staff tightened, as Ohime was closing her teary eyes, readying to take the blow...and he let it go, discarding it without a thought. To quote Gladiolus, he let it slip away, as his _bride of blood_ was roaring, full of hatred and rage at the idea of being denied her utmost victory upon her diminutive ruler. As he was kneeling besides the princess, the same question, though asked with very different tones, came from the two minds of the two creatures.

 _Why?_

"To be honest, I don't know. I don't know why I'm here, if that's because of fate or just pure random chance. I don't know if aliens are behind the rise of APE, and I don't know if my partner is ever going to come out of her trance. What I know...is that we're not enemies. I know I'm not here to fight, conquer, or vainquish you. I am here to learn. To _understand_."

With these last words, he had softly taken Ohime's chin, forcing her to look at him even as her eyes were full of tears of pain and humiliation. The roles had been reversed, the wise and powerful princess was now reduced to a crying child, and the young human stamen was now towering over her. In her eyes? Confusion. In his gaze? Compassion. Whatever the anguished screams of Gladiolus were trying to communicate about him being a pansy unable to revel in a _true_ victory, he started to understand that there was more than one true way to win this kind of battle. His smile shining through Ohime's tears like the sun after the rain, he gently wiped her face with his thumb before approaching his face from her own. She made no effort to move away – maybe she didn't understand what her ally was about to do, maybe she did understand and just didn't care. Maybe... _Maybe she did want to partake_ in, well, whatever Hiro was wanting to partake with her. As he was coming closer, her eyes were slowly closing, and her front horn was dimly glowing.

Their kiss was quite short, but Hiro loved every second of it, from her light, minty taste to the way her tongue clumsily tried to dance with his own. Even Gladiolus, in the intimate recesses of Hiro's mind, was just silently fuming at it. Unless she was just stunned at this first display of intimacy on what was, for her, no less than another battlefield. Which begged the question : Could love bloom on the battlefield?

As their lips were parting without a sound, Hiro smiled, just before getting up and extending a hand towards the princess, which looked at it for a few seconds before taking it. Feeling playful and willing to lighten the mood, he tugged her up quickly, causing her to lose her balance and land in his arms. If only for the utter confusion and embarrassment on her face, this little trick had been worth it, even if those had quickly been replaced by a look of haughty annoyance.

 _Was this...and your help...truly necessary?_

"Well, I kind of beat you up quite badly. You look like you really need a bit of help to get by. No shame in admitting it, it's not like your subjects are going to disrespect you for this or anything."

 _Are you implying that I'm only ruling over a realm of dust and bones? Do you hate me that much, to remind me of the tragedy of our people?_

"First, I don't hate you. Quite the opposite, in fact. And I was saying this because you fought very well. There's no shame in losing if you put up such a fight every time." He joked, smiling again at her scornful expression while giving her his arm. After a few seconds, she accepted it with a sigh.

 _Fine. Just get me to my room, I_ may _need a bit of help to get until there._

He helped her getting to her room, following her instructions as she was hobbling along. Some of her thoughts were audible in a low mumbling in his mind – Hiro wasn't sure if she was unable to control her telepathy due to the pain and stress, or if she was sending him voluntarily her hard-to-understand grumbling. That was the first time he saw her walk for so long, but her tail still seemed to be unable to carry her, sentencing her to use her wounded legs, just like any other mortal. After a few minutes, they reached her room, a dozen meters or so from the kitchen, and from the room where Hiro had woken up a few hours ago. One day, he would know the layout of this place, he hoped. The room itself was huge and comfy, sporting quite a lot of furniture – a fireplace, a huge bed, shelves full of books and a big wardrobe. Once again, Hiro marvelled at the numerous similarities between klaxxosaur and human technologies. As soon as he entered the room, Ohime left his side, slowly walking up to the bed and letting herself fall on it, spread-eagle on her back. Sure, she had taken quite a few hits, but she now looked _a lot_ more exhausted than ever.

"Alright, you look like you need some rest. I'm just going to...get to my room too. Good night."

 _Wait. You're going to let me here sleep in my armor?_

"Well, you managed to don it yourself, so I guess you can get out of it, can't you?"

 _ **Well said master. Let her wallow in her inferiority**_.

 _When I did it, I had not been clubbered by a ningen barbarian. As you told it yourself, I need "a bit of help"..._

Bound by his own words, Hiro shook his head with a sigh and came to sit besides her, noticing the extreme comfiness of her bed. As soon as he got there, though, Ohime extended her perfect leg, letting it rest on his knees. The stamen was a good taker of hints, and quickly got to work to undo the straps of her sandal, freeing her little wiggling foot and earning a moan of satisfaction from the princess. A moment later, the second foot joined the first one, and Hiro couldn't help but have a slight grin of disgust at the big, nasty bruises his blows had left on Ohime's leg and ankle, otherwise as perfect as the other ones. Just like the rest of her. She was _nearly_ as perfect as Honey.

 _Do you have a problem with the removal of my shoe? The straps are the same as the other one, that shouldn't be too hard for you._

Hiro took a quick glance at the princess, which was trying with difficulty to remove by herself the chainmail covering her torso and shoulders, a sight which was both cute and, well, kind of intimate. With a slight smile, he explained :

"Nah, it was just...I was looking at the wounds, just wanted to apologize for it. Looks like I indeed clubbered you like a barbarian."

 _Do not think too much of it. Just get me out of these damn shoes and I may have something for you to do if you really want to make it up to me._

Interested by the proposition, Hiro did as she said, taking his sweet time to unbuckle the straps this time, to make sure he wouldn't touch the painful places on her limb, drowning Gladiolus' stream of insults towards his manhood by humming internally the war songs of the parasites of APE. Finally, he managed to do it, and with a swift kick of her leg, Ohime discarded the sandal towards the corner of the room, nearly hitting Hiro in the face. In the meantime, she had removed the mail around her thighs and undone her long, thick braid, and was now back to the state of dressing that Hiro had seen her in most of the time. Eyes closed, hands behind her head, she let out a sigh of content before speaking again to Hiro's mind.

 _At long last. Always hated this attire. The mail, the protections...especially the shoes. Now, if you_ really _want to pay your debt for trying to break every bone in my poor legs, there's a jar of stuff for this kind of injuries on the shelf above the bed._

There was indeed, a little jar of clay full of a clear substance, smelling like wild flowers in a spring afternoon. Under Hiro's fingers, it felt halfway between a healing balm and a massage oil, though to be fair it probably could be used as both. Of course, knowing Ohime's predicament, he roughly understood what he ought to do with it, though the course of action was made clearer, once again, by the princess' mental instructions :

 _Now just rub my legs with it. That should dull the injuries until they heal, which should only take a few days. More important, that should soothe the aches due to effort. I'm not one to use my legs often, I'm sure you have noticed._

At first, Hiro just thought it was about getting a bit of the strange shiny balm on the bruises, but the idea of massaging her legs, especially after what he had put her through earlier, had a strange appeal to him. Besides, during his relationship with Honey, he had done it quite a few times and had learned a few tricks able to make his previous partner _a lot_ happier. As his fingers got to work, he once again couldn't help but compare the two of them. Equally matched with Honey when the rear was concerned and clearly outclassed in the bosom area, Ohime was however unmatched as far as her legs were concerned. From the tip to her toes to her delicious thighs, there was probably no worthy competition walking on this planet. At the sight of her haematomas, Hiro felt once again a wave of guilt overcome him ; how could have he been able to harm, to hurt, such untold, inhuman perfection? He was about to apologize once more, but her soft purring and the feeling of the soft, sensitive skin under his fingers made him want to preserve this moment as long as possible. Even Gladiolus seemed to have understood how her mindless screaming in his mind was leading nowhere, and was now walling herself in an angry silence, full of hatred and jealousy. On the other hand, Ohime looked and sounded like she thoroughly enjoyed Hiro's pampering ministrations ; her only expression of displeasure had been a squeal of surprise and a light but swift blow from her tail at the back of his head, when one of his wayward fingers had found his way between her toes. Tickling her was likely forbidden for now, but Hiro wasn't really fazed by this. After all, there was _so much more_ he could do with her, to her. Honey, Gladiolus, Papa and APE, everything from before was gone from his entranced mind as, surrendering to his base instincts, he lightly brought his lips to the shivering calf he was tending to. The moan that escaped her lips, the way the tastes of her skin and the lotion combined together, the feeling of the blood pounding through his temples – he had died during this fight, and was now greeted at the gates of heaven. She made no effort to stop him from worshipping her as a princess should be, although after a few seconds, as he was reaching her knee with his tongue, she gazed deeply into his burning eyes, her face a mix of arousal, interest and smugness even as her pose was that of a sultry seductress, sure of her hold over his heart and mind.

 _Looks like you REALLY like my legs, little prince. I don't mind, but I hope you understand they're only the appetizer before the main course..._

There was a weird intonation in the voice that resonated inside Hiro's mind, something that sounded like raw desire, setting his mind ablaze in a bonfire of countless possibilities. Her quivering flanks, her ragged breath, the way her cheeks were lightly flushing in lust and expectation, were only stroking the flames inside him and his own out of control longings for her. He _wanted_ her, he _wanted_ her like he had never wanted anything, more than air or water or life itself. He wasn't sure of anything but the need to ravish her, and of her badly disguised desire to see him ravish her.

 _Come at me, Hiro. Sate your lust, and enjoy your reward._

He pounced on her with what probably sounded like a beast-like growl, and was, to quote her, _rewarded_ by her sweet, tinkling laughter as she knew exactly what was going to happen. With a surprising strength in such an intimate situation, she grabbed his face for a kiss that burned them both like hellfire, a promise of death and rebirth and unearthly pleasures in the crucible of her arms. Her tails darted towards him to stroke and undress and stimulate as their kisses grew hungrier and thirstier. Tonight, she would be his wings, and he would be hers, as they would fly together towards their shared dream. A lone, snarky thought came to Hiro from beyond the red veil of ecstasy covering his senses as he slipped with her under the soft, comfy blankets...

 _ **...I told you she would make you her bed warmer...**_

* * *

The day had been long and hard, but at the very least, it was over. Moreover, they had managed to not be flayed alive by the higher-ups of APE for the fuck-ups of their charge, and had re-launched a lot of their important projects ; FranXX and FranXY were now trying to enjoy a last cup of tea before getting back to their flats. They should have been back to sleep for quite a while, but they had been...delayed by their guest, still in the green uniform she had been wearing during her little meeting with 02. And where both the scientists would have been very happy to get out, Code 004 was not willing to end the meeting.

"So, let's make sure both of you understand what is at stake here. The only reason why you're not getting assigned to recycling duty...as in, jumping into the incinerator and getting recycled...is because Hachi got his promotion and convinced every other monkey that you still had an use. However, that also meant I got promoted to whatever the hell is "Hybrid Oversight Coordinator". From what I understood," she continued, letting her voice carry her strong hatred and disgust, "that means I now have total control over the 002 and 003 projects, unless vetoed by an APE Council member. Have I made myself clear?"

"Right, right. So, what does it change for us, lass? I mean, _boss_?" FranXX asked, showing in his own voice as much disrespect and fatigue he could physically fit inside of it.

"Every experiment on Code 002 is now forbidden. You spent years collecting data on her, it's time to stop running the same tests over and over for no reason. You want to strap 003 in? Be my guest. But the little one is now off limits. Though I've already told you this, _Hakase_ , I want to make sure you don't forget, because I sure as hell won't. You're totally allowed to continue your other projects, by the way."

"I have a question about this. There were talks about relaunching the Nines Initiative after they were wiped out by Code 016. Would they fall under your purview, as they were, and would be, created from previous hybrids' DNA?" FranXY's voice was _a lot_ less antagonistic than her colleague, as she was just sounding tired and begging for a good night sleep.

"As long as you use the genetic material from _her_ , I would, indeed, be in charge of them. So let me know about any development in this field – having more keys, to quote Papa himself, would be the first step to end the war against the klaxxosaurs. And that's to end this war that you get all this funding, right?"

"One last question...You're going to relocate Code 002 to your own suite, right? Are you sure this is the right thing to do after...you know...what happened with Code 016?"

"The main reason why Code 002 went with him, or so I understand, was the dismal treatment she was subjected to every day of her life. Breeding loyalty is an important part of the parasite training, and better accommodations would be a good starting point, _especially_ if Code 016 decides for whatever reason to come back for her." Her answer was clear, precise, on point, but somehow sounded...incomplete. There were further motives from her part, Hakase was sure of it. However, she would not tell him, and it was getting late, so he decided to not press the issue and leave the meeting with FranXY. There would be a lot of time to learn the truth another day.

A few minutes later, Code 004 left the room to get back to her own, and was greeted by a soft snoring sound coming from her bed. Still wearing her rags, 02 was sleeping here, looking almost happy in her slumber. Why wouldn't she? The place was indubitably a lot comfier than the gloomy cell where she had been confined earlier. Warmly smiling at the cute scene, 004 quickly changed in her nightgown before coming back in her bedroom, her feet making no sound on the thick carpet. She slowly kneeled near her own bed, patting the head of the little pink-haired sleepy imp. Her guest opened her eyes for a second, whispering through her sharp teeth :

"Ma...yon?"

"Yes, Mayon is here. Now sleep, little one." 004 answered, before getting herself under the blankets. She tightly hugged 02, who returned the embrace with enthusiasm, burying her face in her new caretaker's chest.

 _Sleep tight, little sister. Nobody will hurt you anymore._

 _I promise._


	4. Chapter 4

**Heya everyone! We're sorry if this chapter is a bit longer...well,** _ **a lot more**_ **longer than the usual chapters. Like, 'what the fuck guys, this is a fucking novel, we could have had at least 7 or 6 chapters instead' tier of long. But there were a lot of things that needed to be adressed. One of the main reasons for this is because we wanted to reach an established timeskip just in time for the Christmas holidays – and then we understood that we could not do it as between work, health problems and writing, these times have been quite stressful. Also, due to the fact that the next "true" chapter will take place after a timeskip, we will probably write a little special episode (so to speak) to answer questions, interview the characters, stuff like this. At least, that's what we think in the Virm Dorado (TM) hivemind. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, don't hesitate to post a review if you have anything to say, to ask...You know the drill.**

 **TW : Dinosaur light smut, lots of blood, infodumps galore, fucky lore, flimsy timeline, Out-of-canon-character characters, weird references, a truckload of OCs.**

* * *

Beyond Numbers - Chapter 4 : _Deeper down the Klaxxosaur Hole_

This day was a big day for the new generation of parasites at the Garden, a day that would see them rise proudly as true and approved members of their society's warrior class. However, for this promotion of parasites, pistils and stamens alike, the general atmosphere was much grimmer and more worried than usual. And to be fair, it was understandable knowing the circumstances. First, the soon-to-be Parasite Representative had rebelled a few weeks ago with his pistil and his FranXX against Papa's law before fucking off to the unknown, probably hatching nefarious plans in his new lair. Then, a bit afterwards, the newly appointed Representative, the legendary Code 003, had broken down in front of the new generation, nearly killing one of them and having to be beaten up and restrained by the head scientist of the Science Department, the also-legendary Dr. FranXX. Moreover, maybe due to these new threats arising, or maybe just to new orders from the hierarchy, a lot of things had changed in their daily lives, making them a lot more controlled and monitored.

But anyway, today was the day. And for those who had been, in a past that wasn't so far away, the "friends" of Code 016, the day was coming too ; as a gesture of compassion and forgiveness for his children, Papa had accepted them back into the fold. Just like the others, they would be free to die to serve him and protect mankind from the perils of the klaxxosaurs – in the same squad, assigned to the 13th Plantation, whose previous squad had suffered from critical existence failure in a battle against klaxxosaurs a few months ago. Truly a mouth-watering fate for the eight companions, who had spent the last few weeks preparing for the ceremony and getting to know their partners and FranXX. Well, especially their warmachines, seeing as most of them had known their partners for quite a few years before this important moment of their lives.

Goro, the silent, glasses-carrying blonde boy, and Ichigo, the bossy cat aficionado. Paired together, and assigned to Delphinium, the Landshark, designed for speed, fast oversight, and, just like the mythical beast from which came its nickname, its devastating close combat efficiency.

Zorome, the brash and hotheaded manlet, had found its partner with Miku, who, while almost as impulsive and direct as he was, seemed to have ulterior motives besides being a scornful asshole to everyone else – the interest she displayed for Goro was proof enough of this. Both of them had been brought together by Argentea, the Whirlwind. It was a swift, nervous machine, created for hitting and running away, dodging most blows and shredding the enemy with her massive claws. "High speed, low drag", as Dr FranXX had once commented. If there was indeed a god for those who charge headlong into the battlefield without any thoughts given to ranged weaponry or heavy armor and vow to make a bloody mess out of their foes, Argentea was his avatar of slaughter...which was, however, looking quite silly for this job, with its pink twintails and pink paintjob.

Then, there was Futoshi, the bulky, gluttonous stamen, the one whose wide and "curvaceous" body was only matched by his partner Kokoro, who was showing a pair of curvaceous arguments too, as well as appetites of another kind. Whoever had paired the two of them had made the pilots of Genista, the Walking Tower, driven by hungers that would be hard to satiate while on the battlefield. Thankfully, none of them implied some kind of bloodlust for butchering klaxxosaurs with the bare hands of their machine, as Genista was not designed for close endeavours ; the massive, huge, oversized cannon it was carrying on the battlefield was here to blast enemies half a continent away, or at the very least from a distance where they couldn't hit back easily. Moreover, it was the only FranXX of the bunch to show a thick, robust frame, where the others were clearly more on the streamlined side. Of the whole parasite legion that had been trained at the Garden, Futoshi had been one of the few – with Hiro, of course, which seemed marked by fate even in his youngest years – in which Kokoro had not taken a perverse interest in. There were plenty of stamens who had been led, stars glowing in their eyes, to think that the young, cute and busty pistil would be their partner forever. To most of them, she had made that promise. And yet, the one she was riding with right now was one of the only ones she had neglected. Destiny, sometimes, was displaying a wicked sense of humor.

After the monstrous long-ranged death-dealer that was the Walking Tower, the sleek Chlorophytum, the Bird of Prey, was exactly the opposite, redefining, with every day on the battlefield, the notion of "breakneck speed". It wasn't meant to jump into the fray to rip and tear like Argentea : it was meant to harass, to cripple, and, at the very end of the battle, to take down. Its parasites, Mitsuru and Ikuno, seemed quite ill-suited to each other and to their mission. Mitsuru had once be the greatest admirer of Hiro's nature, free spirit and natural authority – because whatever the former stamen had been at the Garden, Mitsuru clearly wasn't. And Ikuno...it was a real shame that Ikuno couldn't take the commands of Chlorophytum, seeing as she always seemed to know what would happen, as if she had already seen the ebb and flow of every moment already ; and, without Hiro's presence to guide him towards what he should do, Mitsuru was indecisive and faltering, nearly unable to do what needed to be done. A few times already in the training bots, the young purple-eyed pistil had snapped at him, barking orders and insulting him for the rest of the training session. Unlike every other pair, there was no friendship of any sort between the two partners. At the very least, Ichigo and Goro were old friends, Miku and Zorome seemed to like each other enough to spend their days bickering about each other, and Futoshi had enough appreciation for Kokoro's _assets_ to connect with her without any problem. But how Mitsuru and Ikuno managed to do it was a complete mystery.

The ceremony had started after all of them had been brought to the Plantation 13, where their duty would take place, until their eventual deaths. Or, as Zorome droned about when someone could hear him, "until they make us all adults too". Nobody had the heart to tell him that when the caretakers at the Garden were speaking of "shedding your blood until the last drop for Papa", they were speaking of a bloody death on the battlefield, not some kind of "You survived kid, time for your testes to drop and for you to become an estimated member of our society". All of them had been summoned, to be declared, officially, the newly assembled "P-13 Squad", to quote Papa's first assistant. Every single pair of parasites was there, in their nicest uniforms – even though, to be fair, these were not the plug suits they would wear on the battlefield, but rather ornamental attires supposed to show to the "adults" gathered here how their defenders were nice little kids instead of hardened killers who would die a messy and bloody death against klaxxosaurs. Public relations, and all that stuff. They had earned their right to be there and look clean today, and to be killed tomorrow in an ambush. Such was life for the parasites of APE, and such was life for the Council, who had left the COSMOS flying fortress for this very special occasion. All of them were prepared for the ceremony too, their white blankets-like robes immaculate around their hidden bodies and their golden monkey masks shining in the light of mid-day. Most of them, truth be told, were only here to wait for the buffet at the end of Papa's speech. After all, to all of the plebeians and commoners below, the Council was basically Papa and his cronies... and that wasn't so far from the truth now. Two of them were already asleep, waiting for their Supreme Leader to finish his speech about how these younglings were now "the bulwark against terror for mankind, the defenders of humanity, the gallant parasites that would know no fear until the moment Death, with a pained sigh, would at last reap their lives on a bloody battlefield and bring them to paradise". He had already repeated this part of the ceremony three times, and none of the newly promoted kids had seen through this charade.

That had to stop a few moments later, though, when his Vice-Chief Assistant, who was cleaning some kind of old weapon in the back while freestyling about shallow connections and his absence of problems, accidentally discharged it in the crowd, killing two adults. And, to quote Papa, "nothing of value had been lost" as, finishing his speech in a hurry, he praised the two victims for being able to "escape the prisons of their bodies so easily". After a few seconds, everyone had left, except the four pair of kids, still linked by pairs with little bonds at their fingers, as the ceremony was ending, wondering why everyone had decided to go so abruptly, unaware of the little concussion caused by the councilman. After a few seconds, a slow clap was heard ; every children turned their head to the source of the sound, who was a decrepit old man in a lab coat, who sported mechanical augmentations that had turned most of his face – and presumably a fair bit of his frail body – into metal. The reaction of the newly promoted squad was a weird mix of surprise and fear, as they recognized this ancient clapping scientist as the one who had delivered a brutal beating to 003 and saved Naomi from his unchained fury.

" _Congratulations,_ kids, all of you. Now you're all full-fledged parasites. I'm Dr. FranXX, the head of the science division of APE and one of the founders of the parasite program...You can just call me _Hakase_ , that will be enough. I'll also be your overseer during your time at Plantation 13. Now follow me while I show you your new home and..."

He was about to finish when an alarm started screaming her shrill call around them. Then a second one. Then a third one. FranXX sighed loudly while looking at the nearest screen, before speaking again, nearly shouting to be heard above the sound of the alarms.

"ALRIGHT, LOOKS LIKE I'VE SPOKEN TOO FAST. BUCKLE UP, CHILDREN, TIME FOR YOU TO SHOW WHAT YOU'RE MADE OF. WE HEAD UP TO THE BOTS, THERE ARE KLAXXOSAURS FOR YOU TO DESTROY..."

It took them around six minutes to get to the changing room to get their suits. Five minutes to actually change into their plug suits, bickering and prattling about unimportant things. Seven more minutes to get from the changing room to their FranXX, and four more minutes to get everything ready for the arrival of their foes. In total, twenty-two minutes had passed between the moment the alarms had started their obnoxious noise and the moment they were ready to go – and yet, there was no trace of them. In his command room, comfortably sat back in his massive chair, _Hakase_ was taking a sip from his flask, silently blessing the long-range sensors of Plantation 13. He was about to put it down when he was notified of the arrival of the klaxxosaurs. Right now, he needed another sip of his old friend.

"Are you sure you want to drink _more_ of this stuff?" A feminine voice behind him asked.

"Shut up, Amanda. You're not my mother...and you're not _your mother_ either. Besides, the kids are about to meet their first klaxxos. Methinks that's a good reason to celebrate. Want a bit?"

"When these ones are destroyed, and the kids safe in their beds. Which class of klaxxos are we talking about?"

"One of my favorite. Goblin-class."

He smiled as he heard her gasp in fear and disgust, and took a third sip of his flask.

 _This should be fun_.

* * *

The cold woke him up. That wasn't the cold of a winter morning, the cold of the northern breeze that makes a man feel truly alive, but the cold of an absence, of a void in the bed where, under the sheets, should be the slender, tender, delicious body of the blue princess. A body he had explored and learned to enjoy during this outstanding night. Of course, judging by the entranced looks she had given him throughout their little tryst, the way her body quivered in the throes of ecstasy and how, even in her sleep, she had refused to let him go, wrapping him up in her tentacles...she seemed to have taking quite a liking to these activities as well.

 _ **I can not blame her. That night was...quite incredible.**_

"What the hell?" Hiro asked, still a bit sleepy and legitimately startled by Gladiolus' whispers. "You felt that?"

 _ **Whatever you feel, I feel, dear master. This fate of yours is not**_ **that** ** _grim for now...though it definitely lacks bloodshed on the battlefield. I hope we can get back to the killing quickly._**

"Well, isn't that nice..." he commented, a hint of sarcasm in his voice, while trying to find his stamen suit. "I should ask Ohime about the showers or something, I'm starting to feel like a monkey in a greenhouse." Either his adventure had produced _a lot_ of sweat, or his nose was becoming a lot more sensitive than usual.

 _ **I like it. Feels like you've already been fighting for hours and hours and...**_

Her voice died as Hiro waited for her to finish her sentence – and he smiled widely, picturing the bloodthirsty entity all hot and bothered by the thought of him being already killing things. However, no matter how hot and bothered she was by his dismal state of upkeep, he still needed a way to clean himself and his clothes, especially in the case of other wild nights with Ohime. Soldiering through, he got out of the room, following Ohime's scent. His heartbeat quickened with this smell, that brought to his mind memories of tender moments and savage ecstasy...the hypothesis of his senses becoming more efficient started to feel more and more believable. If he was able to track her by her scent alone...

 _ **You're changing, master dear. You're becoming better, stronger, purer! It's going to be suuuch a delight to fight by your side! We just need that puny princess to give us the green light, and then...the thrill of the hunt, the promise of slaughter!**_

"If you say so..."

Hiro and his partner took only a few minutes to find where Ohime had decided to retreat after waking up – in a place that looked like a control room, where the little blue princess, sitting on a bench, seemed focused on a massive board. Her tails were manipulating the board itself, sliding and tapping all over it to control it and elicit a reaction from it. As he silently entered the room, Hiro noticed the steaming mug of hot beverage near her hand and the blankets pooling around her tiny waist covering her lithe legs, something he found incredibly cute. With all the stealth he could muster, he quietly walked up to her, amazed by her concentration towards the board. He was pretty sure she hadn't even noticed him, and there was only one way to test this theory. Well, to be fair, there was a lot of ways to test it, but the others were neither as fun nor as pleasant. Her squealing scream of surprise as he accustomed again his fingers to the feeling of her soft, sensitive skin, gently running them on her sides and belly before joining his hands and taking her in his strong embrace, was delightful – besides, it sounded genuine enough for him _,_ as he buried his face in the nape of her neck, kissing her lightly.

 _ **This one would have been an easy prey. She's lucky you love her.**_

 _You're lucky that I love him, you mean. I just wanted to see what he was going to do. Just wasn't expecting...this. Now kiss me you ningen barbarian. I've been awake for three hours to coordinate attacks on these soul-stealing ningen parasites._

As Hiro did as she wanted, letting his tongue loose on her own and on her cute, sharp teeth, he felt her press her body against his chest, as if she needed the warmth, the strength he was providing her. As their lips parted, he watched her eyes shine with satisfaction, before she lightly bumped her front horn with his forehead.

 _By the Horn I needed this. Millions of years without a suitable mate...Anyway, I'm pretty sure I could use your help, little prince._

"Oh, are your legs still aching, _Princess_?" he joked, extending a hand under the blanket to meet her thighs, with whom he had been intimately acquainted during the previous night. If Heaven had a texture, he was feeling it now. However, that lovely exploration was cut short by a roar from Gladiolus.

 _ **Stop pretending to be retarded, Master, you're not good at this game. The princess wants you to help her with military strategy and tactics, not licking her feet like a trained dog. Have a bit of self-respect, there are ningens to exterminate.**_

 _Your bride tells the truth. I'm exhausted, barely seeing straight, and without this brew here I would still be sleeping in your arms. But I have an army to lead, and, right now, I have the former most skilled general of our kingdom and an elite ningen pilot besides me. So I'm going to need both of you. I'll make it worth your time, I promise._

 _ **Can you promise me the next carnage, so that I may rend the enemies of our realm with utmost anger and righteous fury? Can you give me the battlefield, so that I could water the wastelands of this dead planet with the blood of the unworthy?**_

 _Fine. You will have your slaughter, and your battlefield. What about you, little prince? Are you ready to help me kill your brethren and countrymen?_

Hiro pondered the different options that had opened to him. First of all, he could help her, assess the different forces on the battlefield, remember some tactics that were supposed to be used by the FranXX squads, win this battle for the princess, and get to enjoy the sweet, oh so sweet gratitude she probably would have for him. Besides, Gladiolus would without a doubt enjoy both the possibility to give her insights about the battle and the subsequent reward. On the other hand...if he did that, there was no doubt that a few Papa-worshipping drones would be killed. What a bummer, really. Approaching her lips from Ohime's ear, he whispered, his hot breath on her skin making her blush and his answer widening her smile :

"Of course, I will help you."

 _Alright, let me show you. I have a small force of skirmishers here and my goal is this zone here. Our foes are this squad of Raised-Dead. Four of them in total, with different loadouts._

"Raised-Dead?"

 _ **She's talking about the FranXX, master. You know...abominations made from the corpses of our brethren and forced to fight for the ningens war? Like me?**_

"You're not an abomination, Gladiolus. Anyway, I'm pretty sure there must be a way to break through. Tell me more about these FranXX. They _must_ have a weakness..." Hiro answered, before leaning over the board that was monitoring the movements of the battlefield.

 _This should be fun._

* * *

That was the fourteenth sip of his flask the Doctor was taking. What had started as a bad joke of a sortie for the four mechs was now quickly starting to become quite scary. Not only because the pilots, in their first sortie, weren't exactly up to the task – but also because the klaxxosaurs they were fighting had started to behave like a team and not like a swarm of mindless monsters. There was method in their wild corruption, bearing a form both wretched and malevolent. One to one, Goblin-class klaxxosaurs were barely an annoyance for a relatively experienced FranXX pilot. They were small. They were frail. They were quick, that was true, and their stings could deliver blows able to pierce the weakest areas of a FranXX' metal plating, but that wasn't enough, most of the time. If the statistics of the Council were true...and they probably were... less than 18 percent of the fights between parasites and this type of klaxxosaurs resulted in human casualties, by far the lowest casualty ratio of every class of these monsters. The old man decided to _not_ look at the "parasites with less than a year of field experience" casualty rate, mostly because he wanted to keep a bit of his brew for later. At first, everything had started all fine and dandy. Twenty Goblin-class against four special FranXX with special loads and abilities a tier above the mass-produced ones, in an open field... a walk in the park for these parasites.

And then, everything had started tumbling down, due to the stupid beasts deciding not to act like stupid beasts. As if they weren't quick enough in the first place, now they started avoiding Argentea, fleeing against it and keeping the pink robot between them and the clumsy shots of Chlorophytum and Genista. Alright, using another FranXX as a cover. That was clever, very clever of the damn klaxxos. From where Hakase was standing, the sensors of his control room giving him unparalleled awareness of the battlefield, there was something weird about the way they moved on the ground. Goblin-class were usually prone to sudden straight accelerations and full-on offensive, but these ones were _fleeing_ at moderate speed – only Argentea managed to keep up with them, seeing as Delphinium was apparently assessing the situation, and Chlorophytum being delayed by the half-assed movements of its stamen, mumbling in the vox about "asking Hiro what to do". Only a few seconds later, Argentea was hundreds of meters away from the rest of the squad, forsaking every parasite battle doctrine for an early first kill.

What a stupid mistake.

It took only a heartbeat for the klaxxosaurs to reverse their course and try to take down Zorome and Miku's ride. Three of the cockroaches-looking creatures jumped on its right leg, forcing the pilots to focus their attention on them to cut them down. Expected from neophytes parasites attacked by klaxxosaurs for the first time – however, that allowed two others to blindside Argentea, striking behind the left leg. There was a clatter of torn and broken metal as the leg snapped under their attack. Clearing his throat and activating his vox, the old man decided to give some insight to the neophyte squad. It couldn't make the situation worse than it already was, after all. His speech was quite slurred, but he managed to bark his orders to the kids :

"Alright kiddos. Argentea is down and need immediate assistance. I'm sending another team to clean up the mess. Focus on surviving and try to act like a team, I guess..."

"We don't want to die, Hakase!" he heard screaming. Probably the retard that had ran headlong into battle and got his FranXX crippled as a result. Heh.

"Well, tough luck kid. Try to not die while the others come to your help. Hakase, finished."

As he took _another_ sip of his flask, who was running low on supply, he heard, once again, FranXY's voice coming from behind him :

"You do realize there's no "other team", right?"

"What do you mean _there's no other team_ , woman?" he grumpily responded. "We're at the Garden. There's like, always five or six teams always ready to intervene. This place is the most well-protected sanctuary of our race besides COSMOS, and they're dirty cheaters by having it in low orbit. So there must be a squad here, right?"

"Werner..." FranXY explained slowly, getting gradually angrier and angrier, "You do understand that we're not at the Garden but at the Plantation 13, do you? No other team is going to bail them out. There's no 'emergency squad' to save them. In fact, _they are the emergency squad, you old drunkard!_ "

It took a few seconds to the old man to process this information, before he shrugged it off.

"Well, shit then. Squad 13," he declared while activating the vox commands again, "it is very unlikely that any team come to your help. First, because as a squad of parasites you are supposed to be the last line of defense of mankind against the klaxxosaurs, and not the second before last line of defence...Secondly, there's no..."

His vox was suddenly cut by FranXY, who pushed the button and looked at him with a murderous glare, her voice cold and angry.

"How far away from here is the Garden?"

"Damn, you're damn dense too, Amanda. There's no way a FranXX could come from there fast enough to save them. Unless they manage to hold the line against Goblin-class, looks like there's going to be dead meat. _This_ is why I wanted to keep the elite robots for _elite_ pilots, but nooo, have to support the diversity initiatives for underperforming dunces..."

FranXY slapped his face, her blow landing on the un-augmented side of her face. As such, her hand did not broke upon the mask of metal, but left a bruise upon the fleshy side. Looking at him in the eye, she whispered again :

" _How far away from here is the Garden, Werner?_ "

"About two hours for a normal flight. Maybe thirty minutes for a normal, mass-produced FranXX. Probably ten for a speedy one. Though they don't have any speedy ones. The only ones left besides the ones who are here were Gladiolus and Urtica and...Oh."

"Yes."

"No, we won't."

"Yes, we will."

" _No. We. Won't._ "

" _YES WE WILL._ "

"You want to give him another chance to fuck up?"

"I want to give 004 a chance to prove she can put up with him and with his behavior on the field. Want it or not, she's his official partner now. Time to put her mettle to the test now, and to prove that she's better suited to this than his _harem_ of faceless girls. And, last but not least, I don't want to see these kids dead on their first day."

"Alright, alright, Amanda." conceded FranXX, tired by the screaming, turning back his attention towards the situation on the battlefield. Send them a message. Let's see if they can get their asses here in time..."

* * *

Of all the ways Mayon could have been awaken from her sleep that day, 02 grunting and growling at her wasn't really the worse – back then, she had suffered much, much worse during her training. However, it wasn't the best either, as the little red devil was doing her best to be an annoying pest, like a needy pet wanting to be fed.

"Mayooooon? Mayooon!"

"Alright, alright...What's the matter?" Her green-haired caretaker's answer to the upcoming crisis of a hungry demon child was annoyed but still tender, even if the shining eyes of her charge were a startling vision in the darkness of their room. Of course, the crimson gremlin, feral and unrelenting in her quest for nourishment, would have been a startling vision anyway, especially when she had started crawling on Code 004's asleep body. Showing her pointy teeth, she tried to make Mayon aware of her ravenous state.

"Hungry, huh? OK, little one. Time to get you something to eat..."

Fending off the drowsiness due to her lack of sleep, the woman got up, putting on a pair of slippers and her jacket over her night gown – before making the mental note to get some true parasite clothes for the little red dwarf. Getting the ruby-skinned, pink-haired experiment subject towards the table was quite easy : she seemed to trust 004 enough to follow her to the little space that was used as a kitchen. However, finding something appropriate for her to eat was a harder task, seeing as most of the food in the fridge was protein shakes and APE-sanctioned energy drinks. At such a young age, giving her this kind of chemicals was probably not a very good idea, even though she probably was used to it with all the unholy experiments of the old doctor.

Still, a kid like her, even though she looked a bit scary with her horns and teeth and red skin, deserved to get something better than this stuff. In the pantry, bread, honey, and tea leaves. That would do, for the both of them. While the water for the tea was boiling, Mayon and the tiny red demon sat for their breakfast – it was 3am, but the early hour didn't seem to have any impact on 02's appetite. Well, sitting ; there was little that Mayon could do to stop the little one to sit on her lap to eat with her. Besides, the way she was whimpering at her to get something to eat was kind of cute. However, so was the way she devoured the first piece of bread, that her caretaker had covered in honey.

Honey...

As she was spreading the viscous matter on another slice, she started remembering what _Hakase_ had told her about what Code 016... _Hiro_...had done. How he had been partnered with Code 005. How he had probably developed a bond with her going far further than what the rigid structure of the APE society allowed. How he had given her a _name_. She had read once that names were an old custom, predating the time of Papa and his cronies. According to the old pervert, that Hiro had named her _Honey_ , just like the sweet bee-produced stuff that 02 was discovering with ecstasy right now. A major question remained, though. Why had they tried to take the cute red devil away? In a way, that didn't matter. She was there now, safe, and that was all that mattered.

004 had met 005, once. She was there in that day where the blue pistil had been paired with the last member of the Hybrid program. Of all of them, _Honey_ had been the most human. The jewel of Papa's crown. The first key his scientists had created. As such, they had decided to pair her with 003, the only one of the hybrids to be a stamen. The Amethyst Prince and the Sapphire Princess, as the members of the Council had nicknamed them at first. They never told her what had happened in Urtica that day. Had the connection failed? Probably. But how could a connection failing lead to the kind of injuries both were displaying when they got out of it? How could it lead to their FranXX running amok for several dreadful minutes before being neutralized? That was no mere failure. That day had been a critical botch, for all the parties. The strongest stamen and the most powerful pistil under APE's control had joined their forces, and the result had been so catastrophic that Papa himself had to forbid them to do it again. In fact, 003 had been given a near-infinite supply of leftover pistils and the order to never again try to pilot with another hybrid, while 005 had started tracking the best possible partner for her piloting career.

Said _best piloting partner_ had then eventually rebelled against Papa, taking her with him.

Of course, Code 016 managing to escape, achieve a _stamen stampede_ and beat Urtica into a bloody pulp had changed everything. A new and superior way to counter this new threat had to be created – and the pairing of two hybrids had been once again decided. The Amethyst Prince, now a mere shadow of his former glory, butt of many jokes among the Council. Mayon was well aware of his acts and reputation, of his zealous vainglory and of his quickness to anger. The months and years had not made him better ; each day since his rejection by 005 had seen him fall deeper into that pit of wrath and pride he was willingly wallowing in. Piloting with such a monster wasn't a pleasant fate, but such had been the choice she had made to protect the little red monster. As long as she would pilot with 003, 02 would be spared this fate. As she started preparing the tea, enjoying the curious look on her charge's face as she was adding honey and tea leaves to the hot water, she wondered how 02 would look like in a few years. After all, all the hybrids, her included, had a quick growth, naturally discarding most of their monstrous features for a more human appearance, once they had stopped being lab rats and had been given more freedom and consideration. If this occured again, the gremlin would indeed be a very beautiful girl in a future that wasn't so far away. The voice of 02 took her out of her thoughts, a tiny, drowsy, sleepy voice that sounded like begging : the crimson demon child had finished her tea, and now wanted to get back to bed. It was with a large smile that Mayon took her in her arms, carrying her towards the comfy mattress and tucking her in. Her hunger now sated, she fell asleep before even getting in. The pistil couldn't help but pat her head and whisper :

"Sleep well, little one."

As soon as she got up, she felt a nefarious presence behind her, hidden in the shadows. As she turned back, she saw _him_. His elite uniform. His jet black hair. His rugged good looks, that were alas somewhat diminished by the massive scar on his face. His dark red gaze, glowing slightly in the dark. In a time, his slender yet powerful body had been as sharp and well-defined as a bird of prey's, but now, his hunched, broken stance, result of his humiliating defeat against the rebel stamen and of his beating by the old doctor, looked more like the silhouette of an old, vicious vulture, a baleful scavenger coming to feast upon the world's misery. 003 made no effort to apologize for this intrusion into her place, just slowly looking around him at the furniture.

"Looks like a cozy place you got here, Code 004."

"The hell are you doing here?"

"I am just checking what you're doing, nothing more. After all, we're supposed to be partners now. We need to know each other better..." He explained, his voice dripping with a badly hidden malice.

"You may feel this need, but I don't. Now get out of here." She barked at him, retreating towards the kitchen. In another place, at another time, she may have handled it correctly. But here, now? She was alone. Afraid. Vulnerable. And, worst of all, he _knew_ it. He was unable to hide his predatory smile, to restrain from showing how much this situation was awakening in him the instincts of the hunter. As she reached the counter, she heard his voice whispering in her hear. Damn, he moved fast.

"There's no need for you to be afraid, Code 004..." He said, even though his voice was telling her exactly the opposite.

She turned around. The elite pilot was now even scarier : in his gaze, in his breathing, there was a lust that had never been shown before. His face was a few centimeters away from her own, and she could feel his hot breath on her skin. She bent backward over the counter, trying to get away from him as much as she could, but the only result of the action was him leaning forward – he was almost touching her now.

"I'm only here to deepen my connection with you, nothing more. Whether or not you will enjoy it is yours to decide..."

His white, slender hands, like two alabaster spiders, started moving towards her. One of them cupped her face, the other one resting upon her thigh, stroking it lightly through the thin fabric of her nightgown. She couldn't scream or whimper, his aura and attitude freezing her reactions to a standstill. His eyes, these eyes oozing pure predation were holding her under his spell. She couldn't even shiver as he approached his lips from her ear, licking her earlobe slightly before whispering again :

"You remind me so much of _Her_...before she was stolen from me. But you? You won't escape. You won't get away. So, dear partner...let me show you what comes _after piloting_."

"Hii..ro?"

The tiny voice, coming from the doorframe leading to the bedroom, surprised them both. 02 had joined them and, in the dim light of the morning, had thought the intruder was Code 016 himself, the rebel stamen, _Hiro._ Of all the words that any of them both could have uttered in this moment, none of them would have worked better to stop his imminent display of misplaced lust and unwanted affection towards the poor green hybrid pistil. The rape train heading for Mayontown had now been derailed, replaced by something harder, something more merciless, and violent, and dangerous. The Nettle had heard the name of his nemesis, and that would simply not do. His heartbeat quickening, his eyes widening, his muscles readying for the kill...the time for violence had come, a fact whose 02 was clearly unaware as she looked at him with curiosity and mild interest – after all, this couldn't possibly be Hiro, her knight in shining armor who had saved her from hell. And this was made clearer than ever when he turned his head to look at her, letting go of the hold, both physical and psychological, he had over his beleaguered partner.

"What did you say, you little..."

Mayon didn't need anything else. His attention had been diverted to something else, now she had to act, quickly. Luckily, the knife she had used to carve a few slices of bread a few minutes ago was still there. A swift movement, no more than one or two heartbeats, and it was in her hand. A second later, 003 was screaming in unspeakable pain, as the blade had gone through the back of his hand and the wood of the table, pinning that hand, that mere moments ago was stroking 004's enticing curves, into place.

"I think you needed another reminder, you bastard. Do your shit with every pistil under the sun, I don't fucking care...but I am off limits, and _she_ is off limits. The sooner you understand this, the better."

"Go to hell...you whore..." he whimpered in-between two cries of pain, as he tried to hit her with his other fist. Bad idea. Removing the knife pinning him down, she plunged the knife in the other hand ; another hole in the table, another wound for 003, this time in his wrist, and, of course, another scream of pain.

"Don't worry, you should get back on your feet in a day or two. I just hope you won't have to pilot in the meantime, or that will hurt like hell. Now fuck off out of my room... _Reiza._ "

He didn't answer, having learned his lesson, but his gaze was full of unending hatred, a burning pit of anger fueled by pain, rejection, and the despair of her using his own name as an insult. As she mercifully wrenched the knife out of his wrist, not-so-mercifully twisting it a good deal beforehand, she grabbed him by the collar and threw him out of the room, or at least tried. The second try, after taking the time to open the door, was a lot more successful.

After a few seconds, once she was sure he was gone, she collapsed on the bed. For a few seconds, she fought off tears...until 02 came and tried to hug her, at which point the bulwark crumbled and she started crying loudly, her face buried in the pink hair of her charge, a comfy pink cloud where she could forget the world. The little one didn't know what was happening, her mind wasn't probably big enough to understand such important concepts – but she knew that someone close to her, someone nice to her, was sad now, and reacted as she could. The two hybrids stood there, on the bed, embracing each other to fend off the memories of the lone, edgy monster that had ruined the start of this day. In all fairness, Mayon didn't know how this would have ended without 02's intervention. Before she had come, she had been unable to act, petrified by 003's attitude. Him beating her up wouldn't have been a problem, she had known far worse during her childhood. This? This obsession for her sister, the unwanted but oh so soft touch of his hands, the subtle, then overt, domination he had shown over her? The truth is, without the cute red goblin, she probably wouldn't have done anything to stop it from having his way with her. Worse, she could have enjoyed it. However, 02 had been there soon enough, and her intervention had shown her how much of a threat her partner could have been. At last, she thought with a smile, he would now remember not to try this kind of shit again. Breaking the hug with the red demon child, she removed her jacket and lied down with her in the bed. As she was about to switch the lights off for a few more hours together, 02 stopped her, before showing her her picture book with a toothy grin, just like she had done a while ago in her cell.

"Hirooo?" she asked, her gaze shining with anticipation. Mayon only smiled, fully understanding – or at least, thinking she was fully understanding – the thought process of her charge. Last time, she had told her Hiro was back in his _magical realm_ , and now she wanted to know more about him. Whatever the rebel stamen had done during their escape, he was now, for 02, the same being as the prince of the picture book. And now she wanted to know more about her hero. So Mayon started reading to her. Every detail of the prince's life. Every detail of the beast princess' appearance. How both of them fell in love until they were separated by destiny and the spell of a witch. Of course, she had read the book before – it was one of the only picture books allowed under APE's control, as it clearly wasn't subversive enough to threaten their hold over mankind – but the fact that 02 enjoyed it so much was interesting. As she was getting to the separation part of the book, where prince and princess had to separate for each other's sake, she noticed the little red one was now sleeping. The clock showed 4:30 am, no need to continue reading when the morning would probably add its own bunch of problems. She would need her strength, all of it, for the day to come.

As, a little more than four hours later, the emergency call from FranXX and FranXY woke her up, she understood how much.

Only a few seconds passed before the two hybrids, both of them in their respective rooms, picked up the conference call. Both of them seemed very angry, not only at the old man in a lab coat, but also at each other. _Good._ That meant they would not team up against him to tear him a new tech-augmented asshole.

"Morning sunshines. Hope you slept well, because we need you on the field. Looks like one of our new squads is getting raped by a bunch of low-level klaxxos using small unit tactics. The kids have state-of-the-art brand new mechs and they're unable to beat a group of Goblin-class. Sad! So get your asses in Urtica and get here as soon as you can, it's movie night with "Saving Plantation 13's Squad" as the main event."

A few moments of silence welcomed his orders.

"So, let me be clear, _Hakase_...you want us to man Urtica and join you to save a squad of incompetent children getting slaughtered right now in their first sortie...to protect P13, which is about ten minutes away if we go full speed. Right?"

"For once, I'm agreeing with 003," Mayon added. "If they _really_ are about to get slaughtered, we will get there long after their death. There won't be anything left to save."

"Do we have to remind you about the oath you took as full-fledged parasites? To protect and serve the cause of mankind, Papa and APE? To fight along all our squadmates and be the ultimate bulwark against the forces that would seek the demise of humanity?"

As FranXY reminded her of their duty, both 003 and 004 looked like they had unwittingly sucked on a lime at the exact same time. As hybrids and special members of the APE forces, they were given a lot more leniency on the application of this oath, especially in the interpretation of the "serving the cause". However, in that case, the Council may not look kindly at this interpretation. Finally, with a low voice, barely a whisper, Mayon answered the call for action.

"I'll be at the launch pad in five minutes. Code 003, I hope you will be there, so I won't have to break one of your fingers. Tell your kids to hold the line, Hakase."

The conference call ended as abruptly as he had started, and FranXX let out a sigh of relief, sitting back in his comfy chair. His prayer had been heard above, the kids would be alright. Well, if they managed to survive a dozen minutes without any help, they would. If they couldn't do it..."Well, shit." as Hakase liked to say.

Besides, the swarm of Goblin-class klaxxosaurs didn't seem so threatening now, even if they had managed to knock Argentea down. Two of them had already been destroyed, one of them by the joint effort of Genista and Chlorophytum, and the second one by the battlespears of Delphinium, Goro counting each one of the dead with a toneless voice. Not that bad. With one of their preys down, they came back to their old habits, forsaking tactics and attacking recklessly as a pack to cripple their foes, inconscious of the upcoming arrival of their doom.

Or so Hakase hoped.

* * *

Sitting besides Ohime in her own battle room, Hiro was having the time of his life. During his time as a parasite, he had been quite good at everything strategy-related. Not as good as his piloting test scores, of course, where he was seen as a prodigy even by the other teen codes, but still...quite good. Good enough, at least, to get the silent approval of Gladiolus and to see the eyes of Ohime sparkling with a newfound joy at his expertise. Happy to see him take the lead in the fate of her race, she was now resting her head on his shoulder as he was explaining to her the intricacies of his strategy. Nothing _that_ exceptional, to be fair. Divide the enemy troops by separating the slow ones and the fast ones. Bait the fast ones into a trap, then spring it into their face. In fact, most of these tactics were only working because their foes were inexperienced and naive, some of them gloryhounds and the other too indecisive to be really efficient. As he was watching one of them, the pink one, getting mauled by the little klaxxos, he felt Ohime hold him closer to her, her embrace tightening and her tails joining her arm in this cuddle. He smiled slightly, letting his own head rest against her own and rubbing his cheek against her thin, silky white hair. After a few tender moments, a question came to his mind, and he whispered her to his blue-skinned lover :

"Ohime...While we were here, commanding your troops, winning your battles, I was wondering : how many of them do you have under your control? Not talking about big ones, or small ones, I'm just interested in raw numbers."

 _Hmm. An interesting question, and a touchy answer. But anything for my favorite ningen... around fourty-five million of them. In a century of war, I lost around five million soldiers._

Hiro took a few seconds to grasp these numbers. Of all the war-like, corrupt dictatorships that were there before the _merciful and benevolent_ rule of APE and Papa, the most bloodthirsty ones' armies were at most around a dozen million soldiers. Moreover, most of these were mere human soldiers, not warmachines able to survive everything that wasn't magma weaponry.

 _Now your turn, little prince. How many soldiers fight in your armies?_

"Well...if I remember correctly, there's around 250 plantations in the world, and each one of them counts around two hundred enforcers, and a squad of parasites. So, that makes around 1500 enemies able to fight back and kill klaxxosaurs, and fifty thousand ones only able to fight ningen threats."

 _What are you...What? I mean, it's just...what? So few?_

"You heard me right. For all your problems with these "pesky ningens", your forces are thirty thousand times bigger than their own. So I don't exactly see why your forces are still getting defeated by Papa's..."

She interrupted Hiro with a nimble finger on his lips, her eyes burning with a newfound passion, her horns, both at the front and at the back, glowing with the same energy.

 _ **She looks like she wants to mate again. Maybe due to this news you brought.**_

 _She's right, you know. If your pitiful race...no offense, of course...is so depleted in troops and weapons, there's no need for us to micromanage every single one of my brethren when there's so much we could be doing instead. Like...this._

Her kiss was...wild. Fiery. Ardent. Utterly inappropriate for a princess, even if her realm had transformed to dust aeons ago, and her subjects had fused with their own weapons. In that kiss, she was pouring her heart, her soul, her everything. Even with his eyes closed, Hiro could still perceive the light and the warmth of her blazing horn, like a piece of white-hot metal. If the glow of that interesting part of her was in tune with her feelings, there was no doubt she wanted him right now. However, she didn't seem interested in ever letting him go from this searing kiss, her tongue dancing with his own in an unending ballet. The first few minutes, Hiro's blood was beating its drums into his head, before his heartbeat slowed as he just enjoyed the kiss. How long did they stay here? Ten minutes? One hour? The stamen had no idea, and frankly, he didn't give a damn. Her own tails had entangled themselves behind his back as her tiny hands were resting on his shoulders, holding them tightly to steady herself in this embrace. As her lips parted from his to form a dreamy smile, leaving a blazing trail in their wake, she started tenderly stroking his black hair.

 _As I said, there's much we could do. Let's forget about the rest of the world, the ningens and their armies. Today, you're my guest : ask whatever you want, this princess will give it to you._

 _ **All we need is blood. You should know it by now.**_

"Well, now that you say it...it's been quite a while since I've taken a bath ; I'm starting to get dirty, and my clothes too. I don't know if you have anything in your palace that might be used for..."  
 _  
Say no more, little prince of mine. You will get what you desire._

As they were leaving the room, holding hands, after another long, breathtaking kiss, none of them noticed the red lights flashing on the board of the battle room as their troops were annihilated in a display of superiority from a new challenger...

* * *

The atmosphere in the elevator towards the Garden hangar was _very_ tense. Having 003 and 004 in the same place at the same time was something no sane person would have suggested after the events of the night, but they were still partners. And unlike the others pistils and stamens under the command of Papa and APE, there was no partner change being available. Such was the fate of the hybrids : a burning hate for each other, and the need to pilot with each other. There was no alternative to this destiny – though, for now, the thrill of the battle to come was enough to dull the blade of their hatred. Both of them had put on their uniforms, the dark red stamen and pistil suits that symbolised the full measure of their commitment to Papa's cause. There were klaxxosaurs to kill and newbies to save, and as elite pilots they were the best suited to get the work done quickly. Also, Urtica was the only FranXX fast enough to reach the Plantation 13 in time.

Once down there, Mayon took a moment for herself to look at the monstrous FranXX, who almost looked like a corrupted abomination compared to the mass-produced ones. Its recent battle against the rebel stamen had of course taken its toll on the Nettle, but it also had been a perfect occasion to change its unwieldy loadout and streamline its design a bit. Of course, most of the spikes were still here, but the greatsword was out, replaced by a pair of huge spikey cestus, whose numerous blades were linked to the magma reactor for _even more_ destructive power. Worse, these fists designed for brutal and efficient annihilation were now packing a pair of twin-barreled magma cannons, just to make sure the Nettle wouldn't jump into battle like a retard...or, at least, to make sure he would have _something_ for the moments on the battlefield where jumping into battle like a retard wasn't an option.

"What an ugly beast." She commented briefly, in a whisper that was nevertheless picked up by her stamen.

"Heh, you're right. A FranXX isn't supposed to be pretty, it's supposed to be a weapon, to kill more and more of these klaxxosaurs. Each of the scars it bears on its frame is a testament to the enemies it killed with great fury and righteous anger. Though Hakase fucked up by getting rid of the sword, it was really efficient for the job."

"I prefer smaller blades. Very efficient too, I'm sure you noticed."

The answer killed every chance for 003 to continue his little discussion about Urtica as efficiently as a swift kick in the nuts. His mumblings didn't stop, though, and Mayon heard a few bits about her being "too stubborn to embrace her true destiny", a destiny that no doubt implied him doing disgusting things with her. Meh – as long as he kept his hands and edgy ramblings to himself, he wouldn't get more knives stuck in sensitive parts. She needed him intact enough to pilot, after all. And, who knows? Maybe he would prove to be competent enough in this department to not warrant _more_ hatred from her part.

The inside of Urtica was as ugly as the outside, full of black paint and little stains of old blood here and there. More than a few of the Nettle's former pistils seemingly had a gruesome death...or maybe it was just leftover blood from the day he had been crushed by Gladiolus. As she was taking place in her pistil seat, she noticed his interested gaze, seemingly interested in her curves, that the pistil suit accentued a fair bit. She thought necessary to remind him what was at stake here with an angry scowl :

"Don't get any fucking ideas. I keep a few shivs on me now."

"Calm down, Code 004...we're supposed to be partners, remember?"

"Do you _really_ want me to tear you a new hole?"

Once again, the conversation stopped as they were preparing to go full speed towards the Plantation 13. It was Mayon's first time with Urtica, and, to be fair, that wasn't exactly pleasant. The dark and bulky FranXX was as full of repressed anger as his stamen, like a wild animal confined to his cage. Now was the time to free the beast once again and send it towards another prey. This behavior, Mayon had been told once, was the privilege of the most powerful of the klaxxosaur-related robots, which were, according to the old pervert and his busty colleague, nearly able to have a personality and a behavior of their own. And Urtica, as the absolute strongest FranXX available to APE's forces for now, sure has hell had one, though it wasn't really communicative beyond bursts of adrenaline and primal rage. Closing her eyes, the horned green-haired girl slowed her breathing, trying to relax. Between the hybrid that was assigned to her as a partner and this stupid rescue mission, she would need _a lot_ of time to meditate to get rid of the mounting stress. As her heartbeat slowed down to a near halt, she suddenly opened her eyes.

"Let's go, Code 003. Time to rescue those idiots."

"That was...surprisingly quick. None of the kids died, by the way. I don't know if you care or not about this or..."

"I don't care."

The two parasites had answered the same thing at the same time. Not a good sign, especially when it involved not giving a damn about the survival of colleagues.

"Aaaanyway, now that I have you both here, I thought I could give you a quick rundown about all the _negative codes_ stuff. I mean, Code 016 has proven this theoretical state could be reached...and by reaching it, has made your work _a lot_ harder, so I'm here to share theoretical intel that could help you defeat him should you happen to meet him again."

Four eyes at once had widened at the mere mention of the rebel. For Mayon, it had been surprised interest. For 003, it was rage and fury. Feeling the discussion escape him, FranXX decided to let the green-horned lass handle it, and directly started explaining away the mysteries of the negative codes, just like when he was teaching to his students, aeons ago.

 _To make it very simple, the negative codes are an aberration. I'm sure both of you are well-versed in the signification of the codes used by APE : the lowest the code of an individual, be it a stamen or pistil, is, the higher their potential connection depth to a FranXX. It's a very complex formula that only represents this connection : two parasites with the same code could exist, and one of them could be an useless dunce while the other one manages to be a good pilot. However, it's still a bottleneck for the parasites. A 500+ code number could be a_ good _one but not a_ great _one, even with a lot of training, because they will lack the natural knack that is the difference between the good and the great._

 _You follow me this far? Good._

 _The most important part in what I just explained is the concept of "connection depths". If you can connect deeply, as you lower-than-five code numbers are able to, your FranXX nearly becomes a second skin. In a way, the FranXX becomes_ YOU _. As such, the more deeply you connect, the more blurry the separation between you and your FranXX becomes. A theoretical Code 000 would be a klaxxosaur, as there's absolutely no difference, no separation, between the pilot and the FranXX._

 _Don't look at me like that, both of you have a high enough level of accreditation for this kind of knowledge : yes, FranXX are made from dead klaxxos, yes, there's still a fair bit of klaxxo tech inside of it, no, nobody knows how it really works, yes, klaxxos are an ancient dinosaur race that melded with their weapons and are currently mad at us because mankind uses magma technology. May I continue? Good._

 _So, klaxxosaurs at 000, brain-impaired retards around 700+. Is that clear? Now we can talk about the negative codes. Negative codes are what happens when you connect to a FranXX in such a way that you become the FranXX, not the reverse. That instead of having the FranXX display some part of you...like Urtica growing more spikes and other edgy bits with time...you start getting more and more FranXX-like. The problem is, as I said, that the robots are basically lobotomized klaxxosaurs where the pistil-stamen duo replaces the brain. So in a way, you start becoming like the original klaxxosaurs. Which were basically blue-skinned humanoids with horns and tails, if my...researches are on point._

"So what? It's basically saurification, right?"

 _No, because saurification leads to death by multiple cancers, and also occurs naturally. Well, naturally...if you decide to get injected with hybrid blood, of course. But I see where you're going with this. In a way, yes, it's basically a perfect saurification...which is impossible...with the added benefits of being so bound to your FranXX that you basically can function like one. Moreover, a negative code can function alone_ via _stamen stampede, and is, in this state, much more powerful than a normal stampede could possibly be._

"That's very confusing, very obscure, makes no sense and is probably full of shit. Also, why 'stamen stampede'? Can't pistils become negative numbers?"

 _Code 004, until a month ago, becoming a negative code was downright impossible. Cut me some slack about the wording : Hiro's the only confirmed "NC", he's a stamen, so, stamen stampede it is. Besides, stampede would not be his only option. Get him a partner and his destruction power would skyrocket. Moreover, even trying to take him out while he's out of Gladiolus could prove difficult, as we're not even sure which kind of new powers he developed thanks to his newfound nature..._

"So, any insight about how to kill him? I mean, that's the main reason why we're here, right? To learn about the best ways to kill him."

 _Shit, calm down, son. A negative code has no special weaknesses due to his state. You're not going to fuck him up with sunlight, garlic, running water or whatever works with you, kid. Your best hope would be to find him while he's not inside Gladiolus, assuming he hasn't fused with her, and then kill him the old-fashioned way. Otherwise, avoid him, unless you want to open...again...a monster-sized can of ass-whooping._

"Careful, old man..." The black-haired hybrid growled.

"Thank you, Hakase. I'm sure that you will make us aware of any developments or breakthroughs in this theoretical field. Likewise, we will inform you about anything new that could be of interest to you about Code 016's abilities...".

With these words, Mayon had closed the discussion. All of them had to be back at the Garden anyway – her and her partner because it served as a second strategic command center after the Council's own flying fortress, and the two doctors because, well, most of their labs where there, with a truckload of children to experiment on. Also because Code 002 was still there, and she needed to take care of her. However, if her and 003 were supposed to get back here as soon as possible, some matters still needed to be taken care off, according to FranXX, so the science department heads had to stay here a bit longer. She left FranXX' room with her stamen, noticing a pair of beleaguered pilots waiting behind the door for their turn – both of them probably members of the novice squad they had saved from a band of low-tier klaxxosaurs. Pathetic beyond any comparison. One of them was a fat slob, that would probably be killed by the fat in his arteries long before any klaxxo could have a shot. Even now, he was gorging himself on a ginormous piece of bread. The other one, a lot thinner than his friend, was a blonde midget with a sardonic smile, seemingly amazed at his efforts to devour what probably was his fifth or fourth meal of the day.

As she was going back to the hangar, a smile formed on Mayon's lips as she heard the old perverted man welcome the two stamens for his "special programs", promising them glory, power and sweets for their help in this "endeavour to better the future of mankind". Shaking her head, she did her best to forget about them.

The less she'd know about FranXX' monstrous experiments, the better.

* * *

For years and years, he had perceived the sanctuary of the Seven Sages as a place of enlightenment and wisdom where the best people mankind had to offer were steering the wheel directing the course of humanity. Where Papa, benevolent god, and the others leaders of their race could work together – united as one in their quest for a better world, a better future. Of course, most of it, he understood it now, was only a veil for their sheer incompetence. And to say that he had served them for all those years! Not anymore.

He was one of them now, not a lowly caretaker anymore. Where FranXX and FranXY had fallen from grace after their failure with their best parasites, he had risen to the top, the Council seeing in his efficiency and talent for logistics a sure way to improve their power. What a sham. The so-called leaders of mankind were a bunch of bickering assholes, most of them, except Papa, more interested in their own comfort than in mankind's survival. At least, the supreme leader himself seemed competent and caring enough for his flock.

 _Hachi, Eighth of the Seven Sages_.

Three of their meetings so far had been dedicated to finding a new name for their gathering of powerful men and women. They were called the Seven Sages, and now they were eight. Calling themselves the Eight Sages and changing every mention of the former name to this new version had been discussed...but what about the possibility of a new change in numbers? Would they be called the Nine Sages? The Ten Sages? And so on. Then they had proposed "the Seven Sages _plus Hachi_ ", but that didn't seem right, as it singled the former caretaker when they should all be equal – except Papa, of course. The next option, riding on that last objection, had been to call themselves "the Seven Sages _plus Papa_ ". The objection to this one had come from Papa himself, who fancied himself as a Sage and wanted the world to know it without any possible misunderstanding.

Finally, the decided course of action had been to keep the name of the Seven Sages, as it was the historical name of their organization, that didn't need to be descriptive. And besides, most of mankind didn't give a fuck about the individual Sages except Papa. And in His supreme benevolence, the leader of an united mankind had decided to endorse this change, or at least this absence of change, to ensure all of them could move on towards more interesting subjects. Something that would not be related to hazing the last member of the secret club by not giving him a blanket and hot chocolate at the start of the meetings, for a change. Though he was happy to sit back and listen to the briefings rather than participating actively : every information he learned here could be crucial for the rest of his career.

"So, is there anything left to say about this meeting...yes?"

Clearing her throat, the councilwoman who had asked for the permission to talk took a file from beneath her chair, before starting :

"Alright...I just wanted to notify the Council about an incident that happened a few hours ago, just after we left the promotion ceremony of Plantation 13's new squad..."

"Yo, check you'self, I done apologizing you b-i-t-c..."

"It's not about you, she said _after we left_." Papa said, cutting his acolyte's insults.

"..Anyway, they seemingly got attacked by a group of Goblin-class klaxxosaurs using small units tactics. That fact..."

"I'm sorry, could you remind me which one are the Goblin-class? Do we have some kind of screen projection or something?" A councilman asked, earning an angry gaze from his colleagues. A few seconds later, a 3D representation of the Goblin-class, relative to a human adult and to a Mass-Produced FranXX, was projected at the center of the room, eliticing a few thanks across the room. Having a clear idea of the subject was important, after all.

"...Once again anyway, the neophyte squad has been thoroughly outdone by the klaxxosaurs, which seemed to show a tactical instinct which was previously unseen. Their FranXX had to be sent for repairs, and the squad has been...asssigned to reserve duty, before their fate is decided by the commanding officer of the place."

"There's a commanding officer in P13?"

"Not really, but Code 004, the head of the _Hybrid Program_ , was called there, so she has the military authority to do so. It's because of her and her...partner that the children of the squad are still alive, seems fitting to give her the last word about them."

"Wait, isn't Werner the head of the _Hybrid Program_ and of everything else in the Science Dep?"

"We demoted him a while ago. You should try following the meetings sometimes...Still, the fact that even the low-levels klaxxosaurs are able to outmaneuver our squads is very worrying. I mean, damn. According to the report, they managed to cripple an elite FranXX before getting slaughtered."

"An elite FranXX? Are we talking about the same new parasites we saw? What kind of idiot gives an elite FranXX to these kids?"

"...Werner did, apparently..."

A collective sigh welcomed the information.

"Werner should stop doing stuff like this."

" _And yet, Werner is the reason we will win._ "

The voice was nice, benevolent, full of sweetness. It was Papa's voice, and the fact that he made it so overly gentle was only foreshadowing about the importance of what he was about to tell, because then his voice would be made of stone, a stern reminder of his nature, above and beyond even them – they were Seven, well, Eight now, Sages, but there was only one _Papa_. During the dramatic pause that followed this revelation, one of the Councilmen raised his hand to shyly ask :

"Why?"

Papa's answer, a single word, came with a wide smile, that, alas, stayed invisible behind his golden mask. But there was no hiding this joy as he was saying this word, extending his arms in an exaggerated fashion ; Papa was happy.

" _Behold._ "

And, with this single word, the skies started burning.

* * *

Of all the labs in the Garden, FranXY's was one of the most secluded. Most of the experiences in the science department were supposed to be dangerous or unethical enough to warrant an increased security, and the personal labs of the two heads of the place were no exception. However, where Werner, as a public person, was supposed to manage a lot of shit and as such needed an easily-reached office, FranXY had made her "science cave" very hard to get to, the only access being loaded with checkpoints supposed to make the progression of potential intruders harder, or to dispose of them in a gory manner were they not of the "can not afford to see them die here" variety. Pure paranoia, of course : most people living under the benevolent rule of Papa were mere drones unable to overcome the brainwashing of the system.

However, as FranXY came in to check on some very important experiment subjects, she was glad once again to have this kind of security here. After all, this stuff was totally out of Papa's control. The hybrid program was well-known among the higher-ups, as was the Initiative Nine. But that? She was the only one in the know – a private project of her, funded through embezzling and "disappearing" experience subjects. The state-of-the-art stasis chamber in the middle of the room wasn't empty now : at long last, a potential subject for this new initiative. The thick reinforced glass and the freezing fumes inside blurried the silhouette of the body inside, conserved forever in the same state it had been let inside. Down to the missing arm, torn off from its shoulder. Long brown hair, closed eyes, budding chest, stern look despite her young age... there was no possible doubt, this body was that of a girl. Not a very attractive one, but beauty wasn't a defining criteria, not under APE's leadership. After all, being beautiful was not something that helped defend mankind against the assaults of the klaxxosaurs, was it?

Defending mankind...

A task the lifeless body in stasis would no doubt help to accomplish. But it couldn't do it now. There were some... _matters_ that needed to be tended to before that moment could come. Now started a long, painful, grisly process to make sure the body kept here would reach the standards of excellency FranXY was longing for. Re-mapping the waves in her brain, awakening things that should never have awakened. Mangling, remaking, destroying and unlocking. Her soul was to be dissected and the things inside sewn together in new, unholy, glorious configurations. Innocence, frailty, purity would be annihilated, ground to dust in the crucible of agony – and in the manure of her destroyed spirit, a new flower would bloom, carrying with her the sweet scent of _perfection_. To the hells and their fires the horned hybrids : thanks to _Her_ , the world would be saved, purged from the unworthy and the meek.

FranXY was neither a madwoman nor a monster, and as such, did not burst in triumphant laughter as she was about to begin ; the horrors she was about to unleash would not be tainted by a lowly form of sadism, but would begin their existence under the cold, analytical gaze of her scientific mastery. Her hands did not shake on the panel control as the drills in the stasis chamber reached the skull of the frozen body, burying their tips of cold metal through skin, flesh and bone, to reach the precious grey matter inside it. For a second, the augmented woman in a lab coat felt sorry for the poor girl. Without un-making her whole being through pain, there could be no awe-inspiring reincarnation. She steeled herself, though, proceeding forward for the Greater Good. After all, if her experiment suceeded, the girl would be the herald of a new era...a fate that the lowly 700+ code number could never have hoped to achieve. How could someone ever think about pairing such a weak and pathetic creature with "the best partner to have ever graced the surface of the earth and oh Papa he's sooo perfect"? FranXY smiled when she remembered the dreamy smile of Code 005, who had been her best source of information about the stamen, gushing endlessly about him when she could. Ah, young love. The most powerful force in the universe. A shame this one had led to an elite pilot, a custom-made FranXX and one of the four hybrids under APE's control, getting away from Papa's grasp and from their own destiny. Well, from the destiny that had been chosen for them. Not that it mattered now, anyway.

It was at this moment of rememberance and personal triumph that her personal communication device started ringing. Of all the people able to use these, only a chosen few were able to override the "do not disturb" filter, and most of them had top-level security clearances : the Sages, and Werner. _Please not Werner. Not him. Not now._

Of course, it was him. She reset the control board to its initial levels, before picking up the communication. After all, the experiment was too important to let him disturb it with his ramblings. She just hoped it wasn't important. Of course, she was wrong.

"Amanda? Come here quickly, it's important."

"Werner, I'm busy working on stuff, can't it wait?"

"Shut up, Papa's orders. I would be working too, but looks like the chain of command can't be bypassed in this case. You have ten minutes to get here, we have something to be there for."

Ten minutes, he had said. It took her eight to get to the office, where he was waiting for her with a bottle of liquor – weirdly, not his ordinary flask – in front of the massive window. Outside, the snow had started falling, as spring seemed to be slow to come this year. Especially here, as the Garden was generally supposed to be in a generally-cold place. But to be fair, it's not like humans left their plantations, or the Garden for that matter, to wander in the desolated lands around.

"Glad you could make it, Amanda. Want a glass?" His voice was nice, relaxed. _Friendly._

"Alright, what's the problem? What do the Sages want? More reports about what's left of our funding?" Her answer snapped like a whip, eliticing a smug grin from the old augmented man.

"Don't worry, you will know in due time. Just take a pair of protective glasses on the desk and come to the window."

There was indeed a pair of glasses on the desk, the kind of full protection designed for high-risk jobs. Amanda FranXY, second most intelligent and most influent person in the APE research lab – alas, only second! – had had to replace more than a few of her own organs herself : a new liver, a bionic kidney, metal injection in some of her bones, and so on...but her eyes, the same eyes as her mother, she never had to replace them, a fact that she was proud of. She was familiar with this kind of protection, of course, and knew she could trust it to safeguard her two assets. She did well, as, only a few seconds later, something exploded in the faint light of the sunset, as if a second sun had decided to show up. The light, the warm glow, the sheer power of the blast, strong enough to shake the window...That wasn't an ordinary bomb. Besides, ordinary bombs, just like ordinary weapons, were useless against klaxxosaurs. At one time, mankind had tried to use nuclear weapons, but even those weren't _that_ efficient against them. But that...that wasn't a nuclear weapon. It was something else. Something new. Under the weight of this realization, she only managed to utter a sentence, her voice nearly broken.

"What. The. Hell."

"Magma nukes, Amanda. The future of this fight against the klaxxosaurs."

"Explanation. NOW."

"Alright, alright, just...take a seat, maybe a glass of brandy, and I can infodump you about this new kind of toy." Then, clearing his throat, he started his quick rundown about the weapons, smiling as his colleague served herself a glass of brandy.

 _Everything started as an idea in the first days of the FranXX program. Back when we wanted to use magma directly as a weapon, the same way we had the nukes in a not-so-distant past. Of course, magma as a weapon doesn't work. It needs a FranXX-like pairing, with a stamen and a pistil, to go beyond the "super-efficient energy" and use it as a source of power for weapons. But you already know it, right Amanda?_

 _The second part of this equation came with the dreadful protocol 32 – probably one of the worst things I ever had to implement in a FranXX. The order to explode in order to get rid of an enemy Klaxxosaur. Used 14 times in a century of war against them, if I remember correctly. Every single one of them a last-second disaster costing a lot of time, equipment, funding. No way to repair a FranXX when everything has been destroyed by a protocol 32. A few years ago, I'm pretty sure you remember it, there was a discussion with the Sages about the possibility to build a type of robot around this very strategy : charging headlong into the klaxxosaurs, then detonate with a protocol 32. A few problems remained, most of them due to the limitations of the pilots. First of all, you would need a connection between stamen and pistil that would be both unwavering enough to not disintegrate in the face of FranXX-induced suicide, and powerful enough to convert all of the magma energy in a massive explosion. So you'd need pilots that are basically the cream of the crop – and these will not be the ones you want to send in a suicide mission, I'm sure you understand why._

 _Another point, though less important and less crippling for our purpose, would be to get them a FranXX designed around one and only mission : exploding. But with the level of the science department, these engineering concerns are trivial, vastly overshadowed by the human constraints. You can't reverse-engineer the human body and mind. Until today. Moreover, these new discoveries will give the high code numbers, the rejects of our society, the utility they needed and deserved._

Amanda FranXY looked at her old teacher, mentor, worst enemy and coworker with wide eyes and open mouth, her mind was racing, trying to understand what he meant. If he had managed to succeed where she had only begun to tread...if he had achieved for Papa what she had started not so long ago with Code 713...Being at the second place once again was a thought she could not fathom. With a forced smile, she poured a second glass, before speaking, her voice a bit more squeaky than she would have liked :

"So...what was the trigger to this revolution? Because that is a scientific revolution, right?"

 _Scientific revolution? Well, not really. Chemistry is a millenia-old field, and its application to magma technology has granted us quite a lot of interesting discoveries, especially the decades-old Elixir. Finding a way to boost the abilities of the high code numbers, even with a low chance of success and a high chance of death, was a godsend to give an utility to the 600+ among the parasites, most of them unable to ever connect to their partners. But now... we have a far better way to increase their utility. We have... Ambrosia._ _Alright, you don't seem to understand. My fault, sorry. Basically, one of our old products was designed as a one-time connection enhancer, based on my...previous research on the hybrid project. A FranXX-related adrenaline shot, if you will. The original project was quickly abandoned after it was discovered the residual after-effects were harder to manage than expected. Agonizing pain for days is not exactly a price we can expect parasites to pay willingly for a tripled connection strength for a few minutes of time. Another project we dug out a few months ago was more in the...mind-altering side. A derivative of old combat drugs, designed to erase a lot of things : fear, doubt, questioning...Once again, disastrous side effects for the mental wellbeing, some of them lasting for years. Now, riddle me this, Amanda : what would happen to a pair of 600+ code numbers given a mix of these two combat drugs, then sent to his death in a custom-made FranXX who's basically a big magma fuel tank, a few directional rockets and a remote command to trigger a suicide by explosion?_

"For Papa's sake. You really created magma nukes. I hate to say it, but you're a goddamn genius sometimes, Werner."

 _Once again...not really. The Valhalla Project was just picking a few pieces of the puzzle and getting them together. The science department has worked on so many things in a century that a lot of projects were buried under mountains of red tape and administration. But...there we are. The first blow of the Valhalla Project : Operation Space Dust. We have become death, destroyer of klaxxosaurs. I think we can drink to that..._

For one, she couldn't help but agree with him. More than for the revelation of this new kind of weaponry, she was happy that it did not involve the same kind of monstrous and very unethical stuff as her own. Not that young pilots under the effect of mind-altering substances and drugs designed to boost their shallow connections going to their death in big flying bombs wasn't unethical, but...knowing APE and Papa, it clearly would be approved, and clearly was approved with wide smiles and a lot of clapping.

Her project wouldn't get that chance. Not from APE. Not from Papa.

* * *

Hiro had never expected such sights. Far from the nice, comfy, cozy set of rooms where Ohime was seemingly spending most of her life since the return of her race, the wings of her royal palace she was taking her to were probably designed for the use of a the whole royal family and, probably, their legions of servants and dedicated sycophants. Though, to be honest, Hiro had never set foot in a real palace ; his only insights about this were a few history books from the APE library, describing a world where kings and queens were ruling over their subjects with an iron and scarcely fair fist. For now, Ohime's fist was more silk than iron, but maybe was she the exception of her race, a gentle ruler where all of her ancestors had been bloodthirsty tyrants.

 _ **The ancient lords of our species were ruthless to our enemies, and kind to their kind. The NyanXX, the VIRM, all of them were met with righteous fury and wholehearted hatred, washed away on the shores of defeat and humiliation by the red waves of slaughter and bloodshed. We were fated to conquer the stars, and no force was supposed to halt our expansion towards the depths of space.**_

"Until VIRM came, you mean..." Hiro commented with a frown, interested by the point of view of his... _inner_ bride, her voice whispering in his mind. After all, she had been one of those peerless warriors, in her time. He was likewise intrigued by the sadness that was felt in her answer.

 _ **Yes, until VIRM came. They were sent back to the corner of Hell whence they came from, their fleets annihilated by Star Entity, but at what price? Our empire disappeared, our brethren sacrificed, our warriors fated to fight and die as near mindless beasts? A soldier without a cause, without a people and a country to defend, is only a mere animal with a weapon. Killing is merely the path we have to tread, the path**_ **I chose** ** _to tread, to protect what we hold dear...be it principles or people._**

"I see what you mean. Fighting to live, not living to fight."

 _ **That's a way to see it, dear master.**_

Meanwhile, Ohime was leading them, a few meters in front of them. The way she was nearly levitating without ever letting her feet touch the ground was...less fascinating than before for the young stamen, but to be fair there was now a lot more things he could marvel about. The stairs in this place were wide enough for at least a dozen people, all of it carved in a dark, smooth stone that looked like obsidian. Once again, a thought came to his mind, and he decided to voice it this time.

"Ohime...I was looking at your palace and wondering : How did everything stay intact during all these millions of years you were away?"

 _It didn't._

"What?"

 _One of the last official actions of the royal family, of my parents, before they...merged with Star Entity, was to put me away as the last hope of our race. I was to be the only one able to survive their demise. The same pact that transformed them allowed me to spend aeons unscathed, until a new civilization bloomed on earth. It allowed me to retain most of the lost knowledge of my people, even though a lot was lost during this long slumber. Names, places, old childhood memories...all of them now lost in time, like tears in rain._

Hiro couldn't even start commenting on this, stunned once again by the immensity of the nightmare she had been living. At least it seemed to be a nightmare. For him, it would have been one. Moreover, her explanation wasn't over ; without missing a beat, she went on :

 _So after waking up, I went to work. Slowly and painfully. I recreated most of this place, with the help of the other klaxxosaurs for the biggest tasks. It went quite easily after the last few centuries : recreating most of the Old Realm technology from nothing took a lot more time than expected. Your civilization went from nothing to nearly reaching space in a span of around five millenia. With what I had been gifted with, I spent only two to build all of this._

"...Alone?"

 _Alone. Well, as the only member of my species still able to think and plan for the future. As I said, I was helped by most klaxxosaurs, but quite a lot of them were a lot more affected than me by the Era of Silence. Only the strongest and the most powerful of them...such as Gladiolus...managed to keep a sliver of their personality alive._

 _ **Mmph. I kept a lot more than "just" a sliver of my old self, Princess. For a very long time, I just lacked a way to express myself. But you're right, in a way : most of our folks lost a lot more than we did. Mindless they are, now, doomed to an eternity of blind submission**_ **.**

 _Indeed. The stairs you're walking on took a lot of time to make. After the first century, I decided so stop doing it alone, and I...tried to create a few helpers. Not klaxxosaurs, who are living entities, but simple programmed automatons, not so different of the ones mankind was experimenting with not so long ago. Most of them are now...dormant or destroyed, just like my former brethren. Had to quell some dissent from them a long time ago, long after they finished this palace and the systems running in this place._

"That's...actually pretty impressive." Hiro commented, being indeed impressed, both by the length of her time alone and by what she had managed to achieve by herself. "If I remember correctly, APE is ruling over mankind of over a hundred years and..."

 _These names you use mean nothing to me yet, little prince. Looks like, just like I have a lot to teach you, you will have a lot to teach me. So enlighten me: who is this ape and how, why, is he ruling over you ningens?_

There was a few seconds of silence before Hiro started laughing. At first, it was a light chuckle, then a full-on burst of laughter. Her question was so innocuous, so innocent...she was meaning every single word of it. And this innocence, this honesty, this interest in human society, everything was fueling his hilarity, much more than if she had said those words in jest. For a few seconds, she looked quite annoyed, arms and legs crossed, her tails letting the rest of her body float in mid-air...even though she lacked the knowledge to understand what just happened, she wasn't happy to be laughed at. After managing to quell his laughter, Hiro explained :

"Hmm. Excuse me, it's just...APE isn't a literal ape, it's just the name of the organization that federated mankind and controls it. Also, according to what you said earlier, they may or may not be controlled themselves by agents of VIRM coming back to earth for their revenge. Their leaders are people we call the Seven Sages, a group of elite people who control everything behind the scenes, and among them is Papa."

 _Who is this Papa of yours?_

"Papa is...well, the closest thing mankind has to the gods of the old books. He's the supreme leader of mankind since APE took over, and some people say he was there even before, to lead us from the shadows even though various countries and realms were still trying to continue their own existences. One thing is basically sure : him and his Sages were the ones who gifted mankind with technology able to extract magma energy and created the plantations system."

 _So your leaders is a group of people coming out of nowhere to give powerful technology to you ningens and they finally enslaved you to their will, sucking the life energy of my brethren dry and killing the planet in the process. Your whole race is a mistake. Well, you excepted. Anyway, thanks for this explanation, Hiro..._

"You're welcome, Ohime. As you said it yourself, we have much to learn from each other." he answered with a sly smile, taking her hand in his own.

She blushed lightly, tightening her grasp and averting her eyes, as if she was too shy to answer to his kind words and gestures...bashful manners that only increased Hiro's desire to embarrass her again, just to see more of her shy posture. She may have been a princess of a strange, ancient, inhuman race, but she was easier to fluster than the young maidens at the Garden. Not really thinking about the consequences of his actions, he took her tiny, nimble hand to his face, kissing it lightly, all the while trying to maintain eye contact the best he could. The first time he had done it, it was a mark of respect towards a gracious hostess. Now, it was about teasing her, getting her all hot and bothered...maybe as a promise for the events to come, he thought as he let the tip of his tongue lightly dance on the tender skin of her knuckles, inducing in her a light shiver that he nevertheless felt. Smiling widely, he made a mental note about it being a quite sensitive place before he let her go.

"Delightful, as always."

 _You...dumb ningen charmer. Just let me get you to the royal bathhouse before you start getting even_ more _of an adventurous tease._

"Royal bathhouses?"

 _ **Of course. Back in the days, this place was a well-known place for royals and plebeians alike. Our people and these waters mingled well : here, many a great hero of our armies found proud mates to court and sire powerful heirs with, and many others just enjoyed the company of others, competing in swimming and relaxing in the hot waters. One of the old wonders our people built before the times of strife of the coming of VIRM...I really hope your copy is as grandiose as the original, or I will have to punish you,**_ **Princess...**

The snarky words of his bride left Hiro quite puzzled. Well, not really because of the content, but because of the manner she had, telepathically of course, uttered them. Hearing Gladiolus ranting about the depths of her anger and what would happen if someone tried to cross her was business as usual at this point. But here, her snide comment had some kind of playful edge, one that let Hiro assume that the _punition_ she was talking about wouldn't be being torn to shreds, beaten to death with her own limbs or left to rot in a ditch after being beheaded. At least, he hoped. Though, truth be told, Hiro had probably no idea about what she had in mind. And, seeing how she turned back to look at them with wide, surprised eyes, neither did Ohime, who nevertheless responded in kind :

 _And how, pray tell, would you manage such a feat?_

 _ **My champion, my master, would be my arm in this feud. You saw already his skill with his... mighty staff. As a warrior of his people, he's unmatched in the art of war. He'll discover all your weaknesses,**_ **Princess.** ** _The ones that haunt your nightmares and make your skin crawl, and he'll exploit all of them with ruthlessness. He would utterly defeat you, only stopping his onslaght on your body when your moans and cries, for mercy, for forgiveness seem sincere enough for us. And then, of course, he would stop and mate with you, because under his warrior skin, my dear master is a stupid ningen with a big heart and a tiny brain._**

 _Big words for such a tiny issue, Daughter of Carnage._

 _ **I'm not sure you're one to speak about being tiny, seeing as you're a pocket-sized ruler. But don't worry, I'm sure my slaughter partner will read you a bedtime story after the thorough spanking you will get.**_

"I'm not going to comment on your petty rivalry..." sighed Hiro, who despite his annoyed air was still quite interested in the situation. The idea of overpowering once again the little princess, a mock fight as some kind of foreplay, made his blood run wild once again. Slender, tender... _frail._ She was made to be manhandled and teased until she was a broken, begging, sweaty mess. Once again, he hid those lewd thoughts, not even sure about whence they were coming from. Having Gladiolus or Ohime as their origin would'nt even surprise him. Maybe were they even working together in some kind of greater plan, playing him like a fiddle to make sure he was providing the blue princess with the pleasure she had craved for so many centuries. Well, if that was what she had in mind...

These lecherous thoughts were however cut short by Ohime pushing a massive door out of the way, revealing a huge cave, dimly lit by glowing lamps of crystal. From where he was, Hiro could count more than a dozen pools of clear water, each of them of a different size and shape ; he could feel around him the warm, moist air surrounding him, a heat that reassured him about the warmth of the bath to come. As he stood there, transfixed by the incredible sight, Ohime took his hand in her own, mirroring what he had done before.

 _So, what say the both of you? The Maiden of Slaughter and my ningen lover? Satisfied enough by what you see?_

 _ **It's a nice enough sight for me, Princess. Don't know about my blood husband, but he seems happy enough. He probably won't have the heart to spank you after such a discovery. Unless you ask him, of course.**_

"So, what are the...old klaxxo customs about this place and its uses? I wouldn't want to insult your people's traditions by behaving like a barbarian."

 _You may be a ningen barbarian, but you're MY ningen barbarian and..._

 ** _OUR ningen barbarian. A lover and a soldier, just like our ancient kind_**.

Ohime flashed an angry look at Hiro, probably meant for Gladiolus, before softening her expression and starting to explain her people's customs with an adorable smile on her face.

... _Right, "our" ningen barbarian. And anyway, our people are no more...but even though, that's so very nice of you to ask. Alright, about the bathhouse, there was quite a lot of traditions to respect, even though most of them are now moot seeing as we're alone. As a rule of thumb, only family members, lovers, and soldiers who fought side by side bathe together naked. That's a mark of trust and intimacy...but I don't think we're going to have a problem with that. Also, according to the old ways, those who are bethroted share the same silk towel and help clean each other. Oh, and one last thing : no mating in the pools. There's a few rooms nearby, in case the need for such a tryst becomes too...unbearable to get back to our room._

The last words had seen her face seem a bit sorry, like a cloud covering the sunlight. However, that only lasted a few seconds before she started smiling again, showing her pretty, immaculate little pointy teeth. A smile that only became wider, shinier, sweeter as she heard Hiro's answer to this last rule, calm and composed, his hand still in her grasp and giving her a gentle squeeze.

"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure we will manage to have fun even without it."

He quickly went to the nearby to remove his now _very bothersome_ clothes and let them here, before stepping out naked in the open again. Surprisingly, Ohime was already waiting for him ; her black markings were, however, gone, and once again, just like in their duel, her white hair was now gathered in a thick ponytail, hold in place by what looked, from where he was standing, like a thin black cobweb ; he quickly understood that whatever skin-tight klaxxo technology protected her intimate treasures, was now keepting her hair together. She was already swimming lazily on her back, her tail slowly moving underwater to supplement the little moves of her lithe legs. Her hands were crossed behind her head, and her eyes, now barely opened, were still closely watching Hiro. Even for a young ningen, what a fine specimen. Blue eyes, shining with a light that even in her brethren's gaze, she had seldom seen...a tasty body, a fair skin, and well-defined muscles...strong arms and legs, and, of course... _everything else._ In the old times, looking like this, he probably would have been the secret, or not so secret, darling of many a klaxxo girl, fawning all over him for his charisma, soft voice and kind eyes. And now he was hers.

Seeing him get into the pool quietly and slowly, without even trying to dive headlong like Gladiolus probably was goading him into, she closed her eyes, letting a contented sigh escape her lips. Even though she would have loved to surprise him, rushing at him in this place wouldn't be a proper princess behavior. Always, in this place, the male would court, and the female, choose. There was no hurry, after all : she knew he would come to her, like the moth to the flame. Now, she just needed to wait for him to do it.

After a few seconds, she indeed felt something that could only be attributed to the young _stamen_ – another word she needed to ask him about – : a lone finger, its touch light as the kiss of a feather, tenderly teasing the skin of her back, just below her left shoulder blade. For a few seconds, the finger very, very gently scratched that same place, as if to deliver her from a persistent itch. With a smile, she decided to stay as still as possible, refusing to display a reaction to his work, even though she could probably have swatted him like a fly with a swift tail blow. Besides, the rascal would need to breathe at some point in the near future. Let him have his little _fun_ for now, she would have the regal high ground she deserved when he would understand the folly of his little joke and would apologize for being once again such a stupid ningen and...

His finger moved.

She tried to think about something else, to focus on anything, anything but that tiny tingling sensation on her back. Of course, between her self-imposed immobility and eyes she refused to open – as it would be conceding victory to the little ningen – her sensitivity was skyrocketing and the feeling was becoming unbearable. It didn't tickle _per se_ , it was just... well, halfway between the arousing and the annoying. It was even worse, in a way. This light teasing was just toying the line, not enough to _truly_ make her moan or laugh or squirm, but enough to let these reactions bottle up inside herself, slowly build up without release.

How much of this intolerable tease was due to his own expertise and how much was the work of the sly presence sharing his alluring body, his kind soul and his quick mind? But that finger, by the Horn, that finger. It traced a vertical line on her back, making sure to go over it a few times, probably only to make her want to jump out of her skin even more...before tracing another one, just a bit closer from her spine. It took her every single ounce of her iron will to not shudder reflexively when it started again, this time making a little hook at the end of this second path, nearly touching the center of her was biting her lip quite hard, nearly to the blood, as she was making sure no shudder, no shaking, no shiver of pleasure would disturb his work. She needed to save face after all. As he was tracing a _third_ path, this time directly starting on her spine, where the skin was the thinnest and the nerves the most awfully sensitive of the bunch, she finally understood what he was trying to achieve with this little game of his. He was writing something for her, the little rascal...with this third letter, a circle on which he went over a few times, probably just to be mean – or playful –, the message was now _I L O._ Nothing really understandable, for now. Ohime nearly screamed in frustration when she understood she would have to endure _more_ of this before finally getting what he was meaning.

Of course, she could break free from this posture, get back at him, maybe subdue him before Gladiolus could react, and respond in kind to his unfair teasing. But where would be the fun in this? This was merely another kind of dance in the old seduction game, and there were rules about its steps that she would not break _yet_. Besides, her concentration was nearly broken and she had to take a sharp intake of breath, when Hiro, for the fourth letter of the message, used two fingers to trace the shape of a _V_ on her back. Her mind was a battlefield, where her whole being was torn between letting him continue and break the cycle, between begging him to stop and begging him to _never_ stop, between rejecting him and never letting him go. _I L O V_

She started to understand what he was meaning. How...how _cute_ of him. _Bringing a homemade breakfast in bed before cuddling and horn-bumping under the blankets all day_ levels of cute. The fact that he had managed to do it in such a both frustrating and arousing way was something that would definitely have made him a highly prized catch a few million years ago. And today, she only had to share him with a comatose half-klaxxo girl and the spirit of a bloodthirsty battle-maiden. On this point at last, she was very lucky to be the last one of her kind. She even allowed herself a tiny sigh when she felt him trace on her back the last letter of this word. In a strange way, having an idea of the message he was trying to convey was comforting, even as he was playfully scraping her back ; in knowing what he meant, she felt a strange connection between them, one that couldn't be explained only by her knowing what he was about to do. And even then, she understood it too late, she had no idea about what he was about to do _next_. Looking back at it, she could have guessed it would change, as the _E_ he has traced was nearly touching her right side.

First of all, him suddenly grabbing her sides was unexpected as hell. They were an even more tender and sensitive place than her back, and she couldn't help but let out a squeal of laughter and aroused surprise. She managed to quell her reactions – Hiro's hands didn't seem to be there to wreak another teasing havoc on her body, but to steady himself for what was to come. Ohime's mind wasn't a battlefield anymore : the hot, wet waters around them were a perfect representation of her mental state. Except her mind was drowning in them, losing itself in the pent up frustration and pleasure. Feelings that reached dangerous levels when Hiro started again. With his hands too busy connecting to the princess' hips, there was only one tool he could use to conclude his message...or at least only one that could be used now in this position. His mouth and tongue. Slowly, gently, he started his work, letting a trail of kisses on the soft, delicious skin of her back. A wide arc, going from her left shoulder to her right, in the shape of a horseshoe going nearly to the small of her back in its lowest point.

 _I LOVE U_

She had lost. Everything, her rank, her title, his nature as – for now – a goddamn ningen, everything was washed away by the tidal wave of her hormonal outburst. When his face, his cute smiling face, which bore no sign of shame, just a happy mischievous smile, emerged from the waters just between her thighs, spreading them softly, he was met by a burning gaze, something raw and primal he had awaken in this blue little princess. A snarky thought from Gladiolus was the last thing he heard before she jumped him with all her might, pushing him through the waters towards the bottom of the pool, before he could even say a word.

 _ **I told you that was a stupid, cheesy idea to begin with.**_

She could have pinned him on the ground of the cave, out of the waters, to have her way with him, probably fiercely and wildly. That would have been possible, even though she probably, in that case, would have _maybe_ waited to drag him towards the rooms nearby before unleashing the brunt of her carnal frustration on the young ningen. Yeah, that could have been the plan, but now it was her turn to make him her plaything. Six meters under the surface of the waters, she was now pinning him on the marble floor, her nimble fingers finding with ease the part of his throat where the lungs' connection to the outside was the weakest, the more shallow. Never breaking eye contact, she pressed lightly, cutting his airways, and her only answer to the panicked look on Hiro's face was a face that expressed raw desire. She waited for the absolute last moment, the moment where Gladiolus, her master about to lose consciousness, would override his orders and take control of his body, before releasing his airways and kissing him with all the passion she could, emptying her lungs into his own and bringing him back to life. The spark of youth and strength came back to him with this kiss of life, as, still kissing him, she brought him back to the surface. Bumping her large blue horn against his forehead, she spoke directly to his mind, her thoughts carrying with her a part of her overwhelming desire.

 _Did you like it, little ningen?_

"Probably...as much as you..." Hiro commented, panting, his eyes even wider as one of the princess' hands was wandering near his own little _stamen_. Well, not so little ; one of the side effects of the oxygen deprivation he had endured because of her had been to make his body a lot more, let's say, _eager_ to the task at hand. When she traced its outline, he decided to voice his concerns, as shallow as they were : "Weren't you talking about how _no mating in the pools_ was part of the rules here?"

 _We're alone. Screw the rules. And me._

As he was moving in for the kill, he heard the first explosion.

* * *

Another bad day was over. That was the only thought that crossed Mayon's mind as, exhausted, she was coming back to her place, her comfy nest at the Garden. Between having to team up with her insufferable prick of a partner – which complained for most of the travel back here because of his hands and of the unending stream of pain that was his existence, destined to drown all things in its darkened embrace. For once, she couldn't help but agree with his statements : as far as pains went, he was a big one, a _very_ big one.

At the very least, the door was still closed when she came back, and a big box, almost too big to pass the door, was waiting for her in front of it. A tired smile appeared on her lips when she understood FranXY had agreed to her request for more stuff for Code 002. She had requested clothes adapted to her gremlin size, more books, writing material, and, to make it shorter, everything that could help her make the happy red goblin a more accomplished person. Between this package and her trip to Papa's Kitchen for a bit of food...maybe that day could end on a positive note.

Well, _a bit_ of food. As much of a bit as 003 was a bit of an asshole. She had enough to feed a whole parasite squad for a whole day. With a bit of luck, that would last her at last three or four days. With even more luck, no one would disturb her during this time, and she could spend a bit of time trying to tame her charge and make her a good little parasite. One that would be more than just a flesh cog in Papa's machine, and who wouldn't have to ride with people like 003. She opened the door, checking quickly if someone was around, like her assigned partner – he had managed to surprise her once, but that would not happen a second time. And even if he did, she would have a _surprise_ for him too, as pointy as his FranXX and as edgy as him. She just hoped he wouldn't try it : even the hybrid healing factor he was flaunting wouldn't stop his wounds from impairing his piloting performance.

The room was dark. For one second, she thought 02 wasn't there anymore. Mayon was already making plans about torturing FranXX for stealing her away, when she spotted her, once again reading her picture book under the light of a lamp, her rags and a few blankets covering her. Hearing, seeing and smelling her caretaker coming back, she started chirping happily, running towards her and hugging her leg tightly while she was trying to remove her boots.

"I'm happy to see you too, little one...I brought you some food!" she added, seeing the eyes of the red hybrid light up with hunger, delight, and what looked like a feverish fervor at the sight of the bag. She had probably recognized what Mayon had brought her, and remembered the greasy delight that the green-haired girl had brought her as her first meal. No doubt that for the cute little pink-haired creature, this smell would be forever associated with kindness, happiness and deliverance from pain and loneliness. The pistil put the bag on the table, before showing her the huge package that had come for them, for which 02 showed less curiosity. When Mayon opened it, however, her eyes started sparkling again at the sight of all the wonders that it contained. Parasite clothes, picture books, drawing kits...FranXX may have destroyed the first years of her life, but thanks to Mayon and FranXY's approval, she would maybe have a more _normal_ childhood afterwards. The clothes may have been of the same fabric as the ones worn by more mundane children during their time at the Garden, but under her fingers, compared to what she had been wearing for all her life, it was as soft and pure as silk. The spell she had been put under by the sight of these, even more powerful than the smell of food, was broken by the nice laughter of Mayon, who kindly patted her head :

"We're going to eat in a while, little one. But first, I think you need to take a bath and change clothes, now that we have something to dress you up with."

"Baa?"

"Yes, just come with me."

Just like most high-ranking adults of the Garden – though she _theoretically_ still was part of the parasite class –, Mayon's place had most of the necessary accomodations for everyday life, without needing to rely on commons, like that was the case for normal parasites. Her bathroom wasn't _that_ big, but at the very least included a bathtub, which would be very useful for the red gremlin. For now, she seemed quite clean, but she needed to be _cleaner._ Also, those rags needed to be discarded. 02 made no objection to this cleanliness predicament, seeming more interested in the way the hot water was filling the bathtub. She growled a bit when Mayon tried to remove her dark clothings, but calmed down quickly when her caretaker eased her naked body into the tub. The feeling of the warm soapy water was a brand new one for the red child, one that she didn't seem to dislike that much. She however hissed and whimpered when Mayon, judging that her charge had spent enough time there, started to scrub her clean, rinsing her hair and horns from any residual dirt, before getting her out of the bath. Now was the time to play dress up for Code 002, who discovered the joy of having, for the first time in a life that had been more on the grim side, true clothes that she could call her own. Once dressed in the standard clothes for normal parasites, she could nearly pass for one of the kids, down there, being taught about the eternal glory of Papa. Well, the red skin and long horns would still cause a ruckus if she went to mingle with them out there, but still. A shirt and pants, socks and shoes : the red experiment subject in a rag full of holes was no more, replaced by the calm, wide-eyed, happy crimson gremlin that was now once again trying to hug Mayon's leg. With a smile, her caretaker lifted her up in her arms, holding her closer against her heart.

"Alright, little one, time to go eat something."

"Mayooon?"

As they reached the little table near the kitchen, 004 started getting the food out of the bag, getting once again the same look of hunger-driven fervor from 02, which only intensified as more and more items were pulled out. Papa's Kitchen, of all the places where you could get food, was one of the worst quality-wise for field agents like her. Grease, salt, red meat...all of these usually combined to have disastrous results on a parasite's health. Energy-wise, that could have been working, as most of the stamens and pistils that worked hard to defeat klaxxosaurs spent a truckload of their stamina during their rounds on the battlefield, but the increased risks of heart disease were not worth it. Most people that enjoyed the Kitchen were adults with a comfy office job in the different branches of APE, and even them were wary of not going there too often, for their own good. However, 004 had been told long ago how much more efficient than human's the hybrids' bodies were, eliminating most of the noxious by-products of the consumption of Papa's Kitchen's food. Her little charge was, in her state of her development, supposed to be even better at this ; the closer an hybrid was from the original klaxxos, the more their klaxxo side was prevalent, the more their abilities, including this enhanced digestive system, were efficient.

Careful to make their next meals diverse enough, Mayon had taken upon herself to select a large range of products, sure that her little charge would love them. Some of them, such as the Papa-Deluxe-Bacon-XL (now with extra cheese and a plate of tenders on the side!) or the Garden-Supreme with red onions, were unavoidable staples of the Kichen, sure to stem the tide of hunger for a dozen hours. But others, like the Double-Cosmos, the Giant-FranXX ( _Hakase_ -approved, of course) or the Long Klaxx, were less ubiquitous in the minds of the regular customers than the others. And of course, there was the APE-Burger, devised to be simple, filling, quick to devour and to digest...and its bigger brother, the APE&Cheese, designed to be an APE-burger but with cheese added. Revolutionary. Mayon was not playing favorites here, however, and she had taken just about everything. More than two dozens of them were now on the table, and 02's face was downright rapturous in front of so much food in one place. The little light in her eyes dimmed a bit when she saw Mayon store most of them in her fridge ; however, it came back tenfold when her green-haired caretaker gave her what she craved, a monstrous and bountiful one with honey glazing, a double dose of cheese and the special _Bittersweet_ (TM) sauce. The burger itself was nearly as big as her head, but she was hungry and her teeth were sharp : it was over in a matter of minutes, as 004 was watching with a sly smile. Her own meal was a lot smaller, sporting both chicken – or at least what the food-production labs of the Garden were calling _chicken_ – and the dreaded _Magma Sauce_. It wasn't real magma, of course. Hell, it wasn't even derived from magma energy. But it burned like it – something she had always liked. A _good pain_ , as she always thought. Just like the pain of her overstrained muscles after a long day of fighting. As long as she was in pain, she was alive, and as long as she was alive, she could find something to make the pain stop. She quickly finished it, oblivious to the searing feeling in her mouth, and just looked at 02, whose eyes and face were now expressing a satiated bliss. The dinner was over, and the red gremlin went back to her picture book while Mayon was making sure to clean up the kitchen. After a while, she came back to the bed, where her little monster showed her again the book, her own little Bible. Even if she enjoyed looking at picture, it seemed that she did not understand everything about the themes that were explored inside ; and that was a good thing, as the second half of the book _clearly_ needed a good rewrite from the ground up. For now, it seemed that one part that had caught her attention was the mention of the prince kissing the princess, though that was too symbolically depicted to be fully understandable by the little mind in her cute pink-haired head. Wanting to help her understand, Mayon kindly showed her :

"You see? The prince is kissing the princess."

"Kissu?"

"Yeah, kissing. That's something you do to the person you like the most, to show them you _really_ like them."

"Hiroo...kissu?"

"One day you will, little one. One day..." Mayon's voice was a mere whisper, but it seemed to bring a lot of joy to 02, who hugged once again her caretaker. A few seconds later, the green-horned hybrid got an idea : taking the book in her hands, under the little one's curious gaze, she cleared her throat and started reading with enthusiasm, as if the old picture book was the most wonderful story ever written. Of course, it wasn't – but with a few changes here and there, it probably could be a lot more interesting. Who knew? Maybe those changes could add a bit of consistency, and meaningful themes and characters for the reader. Or for the listener, in that case. If she could slip a few life lessons in this myth...that could prove interesting for the future.

 _Once upon a time, lived a beast princess. She wasn't an evil, ugly beast, nor a monster who roamed the countryside to devour people ; she was kind and pure, and she was as beautiful as the dawn. She had alluring horns and great wings, and she was living alone in the forest, near the human kingdoms. Even though she was nice and gentle, she had no friends, so, one day, she decided to wander near the human town, which was shiny and full of pretty colors._

The first part was done – creating a main character that the young mind of the red gremlin could self-insert as. That way, every life lesson learned by the character would be learned by Code 002 too, by some kind of childlike osmosis. At least she hoped. Besides, she also had explained the initial situation of that main character. Pretty simple, right?

 _However, she quickly understood that humans were not as kind and nice as their pretty colors showed. They were evil and greedy, and they decided to lock her up in a prison until she told them where her realm and treasures ; they also wanted to know where the monsters in the forest were hiding, as they thought she was one of them. When she refused to answer, they took her great wings away, tearing them out of her shoulders._

That was the second part of the story : giving the main character a first life lesson, namely "never trust humans". Knowing how much both Mayon and 02 had suffered during their time with humans under APE's control, that was one that should have been learned by then. However, having the lesson repeated to the little red gremlin one more time would never be useless. The princess suffered, humans are bad, never relax around these creatures. Mayon was pleased to see 02 listening to her with a surprising intensity, completely focused on the story.

 _One day, as the princess was crying in her cell, a young man came for her. 'Why are you crying?' he asked gently. She looked upon him and he was the most beautiful man she had ever seen, with big blue eyes and a kind smile. She told him that she was a princess among the monsters, and that she missed her old freedom. He smiled at her and told her he was a prince among the man, and that he could get her out of here. Even though she refused to trust humans anymore after what they had done to her, she fell in love with the prince, and decided to follow him out of the prison. For the first time since she had been imprisoned, she could see the blue sky and the snow on the ground._

Once again, linking the stories of the reader and the main character was very important. After all, Hiro had tried to save Code 002, right? That was proof enough that he cared about her, and as such, for Mayon, couldn't be _that_ bad. Sure, he was a traitor and a rebel and his elimination was considered of the highest priority for APE and its followers – including Mayon herself. But knowing APE, following blindly the orders was unhealthy in most cases. Feeling 02 nudging her side to continue reading, she ruffled her pink hair, earning a squeal of surprise, before taking her on her knees to get on with the rest of the story. Having her so interested by her version of the story was heartwarming for the elite pilot, as much of the fuzzy feeling of her little body pressed against her. Was that what _motherhood_ was about? Daughter or sister, that did not matter as much as the story, and she did her best to continue "reading".

 _However, the other humans were angry at the prince. 'He betrayed us and fled with her! We have to get them back.' The prince had always been gentle and nice, and as such the other humans did not trust him. 'He's not as evil and vicious as we are, he must be hiding something!'. With these words, they went as a mob and decided to go after the prince and the princess to imprison them. Alas, the prince managed to escape on his steed, but the beast princess was captured again by the humans._

To accomodate the red gremlin, she was now half-lying on the bed, 02 sitting against her, between her legs. Even though the book, and the story, were keeping her awake for now, the little gremlin looked like she was about to fall asleep every minute now. Digestion was probably taking its toll...Mayon smiled, tickling 02's neck to keep her awake – earning a peal of laughter and a grunt of disapproval afterwards – before continuing to read. Well, at that point, it was more inventing than just reading, and she probably could do it even with her eyes closed. But hey, had to maintain the guise of explaining what was in the picture book...

 _When the princess was captured, she was brought to the King, who thought for a long time about what he would do with her. The little prince, his son, was gone, and he needed someone to be his heir one day, someone who could get the throne once the King would be gone. So he brought back from exile his second son, the Black Knight, who was the most cruel, angry and evil man in all of the kingdoms of men. Even for the other humans, he was too mean and dangerous. The king said 'My other son needs a wife, and no woman wants him. Let the Beast Princess marry him!'. At first, all the women in the kingdom were happy : none of them would have to marry the Black Knight, who, though he was human, was behaving like a monster. However, there was one who objected to the marriage. The Green Lady was a friend of the prince, and she understood that if the prince had wanted to flee with the Princess, that was because he loved her. So she went forward, and, to save her, said to the King : 'Your Highness, spare the Beast Princess and I will marry your son.'_

 _The King thought about this, and decided to spare the Beast..._

She was right : as soon as she had finished this part, 02 nearly fell down asleep. There was no doubt that the combination of a full belly and a nice story was downright devastating to her will to stay awake, and Mayon decided to cut the story short. After all, there would be many other nights, and many other opportunities to finish the story. She managed to get her charge to stay awake just long enough to get in a new set of pajamas – had 02 been less tired, she probably would have spent a fair bit of time just marveling at them – and, likewise, discarded her uniform for a light nightgown. After all, they were warm together in their bed, snuggled up like birds in the nest. As she was quietly checking on the few traps she had prepared to take care of any...unwanted visitors, she scribbled a note that she would send to FranXY as soon as possible. After all, the little gremlin would grow up – and fast – once treated like a human being...and as such, they would need a bigger bed. Mayon had absolutely no qualms with sharing it with her, but size would be a problem in the future, and probably sooner than expected, even if they cuddled _very very tightly_.

None of them heard the flash of light or heard the blast of the explosions.

* * *

He heard them. The blasting death, the weapons of war bursting in the sky, slowly destroying the planet. A mission for which mankind had become exceedingly efficient. They were already quite good at it even before APE started controlling them. For all of its bloody history, mankind had never prayed as much as for the gods of death and battle, destroying the very earth under their feet for a few seconds of lavish luxury. Even now, their younglings were designed from birth to be part of their warrior class.

Once, in a time that he could not remember, he had been one of them, one of those disgusting creatures motivated by greed, fear and hate. He had hidden it under the guise of _loyalty_ to its masters, of course. Now, he still had the body of the man he once was, but his soul was forever bound to his new mistress. His fate had been revealed to him in a moment of cosmic enlightenment. _She_ was calling to him, showing him the way. Unlike the feeble creatures roaming the earth, his goal was not in pointless fighting ; there would be, however, a lot of it in the days to come, as many would not accept _her_ blessings. And they would be punished for it. For now, he had a task to accomplish here. Still wearing the garments and weapons of his previous life, he was strolling along the hallways of the Garden, trying to remember the best ways to do what he needed to do. For his mistress was a generous god, but _she_ still was a jealous one, and it was more and more difficult to access the memories of the life he had before _she_ came to choose him. However, _she_ also had sharpened his body and mind – he was supposed to be _her_ champion, _her_ harbinger for the times to come, and for this task he needed to be at the apex of evolution. Once again, he was repeating for himself the mantras he could understand in _her_ sybilline whispers, when he was stopped. Another like him. But unlike him, he wasn't _hers_. His voice was harsh and without any compassion, unlike _hers_ , that was gentle and insidious :

"Matricule MK-A-642, you're not supposed to be in this area. Right now, you're supposed to be patrolling area 38. Do you have any special permission?

He did not answer, silently checking the area for all kinds of recording devices, or other pesky humans trying to stop him in his one man crusade. There should be no witnesses for what was going to happen. None. A few seconds later, his inspection was complete, wielding a negative result – if the man in front of him, probably one of the higher-ups of his previous life, disappeared from the place, his life sacrificed on the altar of fate, no one would know about his whereabouts. Would he be an easy prey? Maybe. Maybe not. Only one way to know for sure. After a few seconds of silence, he saw the man fidget with the radio he was wearing on his waist. _Utterly unacceptable_. If he brought reinforcements to this position, his plans would probably be delayed, and _she_ wouldn't like it.

His answer to this new threat was to leap, fists first, upon the dumbfounded guard. Two punches : One to shatter the radio, the other to break his jaw like a crystal glass. This man had impaired by his questions the fate of the whole universe. Now, he was impairing it by his mere existence. Dragging the – now unconscious – body behind him to the nearest empty room, he started _disposing_ of it. After a few seconds, the guard was no more, but the question of the body was still there, another problem to solve.

 _ **Th͉̜͖̍ͯͫ̕i͔̝̜͘sͮ͆̎͏̬̳̘ ̣̾i͕̞̋̌̀ş̠͛ ̀͋̿n̵ot̵̆͂͌ ̸̤̫͙͑̆͒a ̬pro͘b̵l̰ͭ́e̡̋ͪm̶,̡͛̃ ̸̲̣̓̊m͜y̵̌ ̶̺̙̘͌̔ͪso͞ņ.͚̃ D̷̤̜ͪ͗e̡̾ͤ̒v̛́o͐̃u͋r ̈́̍h̬̄͘im̝̟̳.̺̼̩ ̸͉͖̌́S̑͑teal͘ ͮ͟ȟ̯̣̚i̧̘̼͉ͮ̏́s͔̟̻͐ͣ̏ ̪ͮs͚̎tr̗͈ͥ̆́ȅ̯͇͗͝n̫̹͑ͯg̢ͣ̆̃th, ͑́͋an͍̬̄̈́d̛ͭ͋ ҉̻͉ḫ̣͕ͨ̓̿i͙͍̿̎͝ş̟̙̏̽ m̸i̠̱͋̅̕n͉͇d.̛̤̳ͥ̋**_

The path _she_ had carved for him, the path that he had to advance on, was now clearer to him. He felt his jaw distort and swell, growing in size and strength like the maw of a human snake. Likewise, his teeth grew harder, stronger, sharper, and he could feel the spittle in his mouth, boiling and corrosive. His _Mistress_ had gifted him with a tiny part of _her_ power, of her ever-consuming hunger, fated to destroy entire worlds. Even with this parcel, there was neither steel nor flesh or cloth able to resist _her_ embrace ; he wasn't only _her_ champion and _her_ right hand upon this word, but also the recipient of _her_ blessings. And it was now time for him to destroy any evidence of the death of this enemy of _her_ cause. It only took him a few minutes before he left the room, going forward towards a goal that, thanks to the memories his feast had granted him, seemed now clearer.

He had the name, and the face, of the one he had to...remove before _She_ could come back.

He would do his duty. Whatever the costs.

* * *

 _ **Master! Master, wake up, please! PLEASE!**_

"Hum...Gladiolus? What happened?"

 _ **I don't know. Some kind of powerful explosion...more powerful than what the ningens ever managed to achieve with their pitiful civilization.**_

Hiro was...groggy, to say the least. A few seconds earlier, at least from what he remembered, he was having a very good time with Ohime. One that could have been even better had some kind of big bomb not exploded somewhere above their position. Being still a mere _ningen_ , he had been knocked out cold by the blast. He took the time to look around him : the gigantic _royal baths_ , old pride of the klaxxos, recreated after aeons through Ohime's determination and hard work, had suffered from the assault. The roof of the place was now cracked and damaged, and several big slabs of stone – some of them bigger than himself – had fallen down into the pools, damaging even more the palace. Moreover, the cold, polished floor of the bathhouse was now covered in dust and rubble, and the air in the cave was full of it. Painful to walk on, painful to breathe in, and painful to see that all this time he had spent in the pool, washing himself... and other things... had been for nothing. His heart started racing when he saw Ohime, a few meters away from him, staring towards the massive doors. Without any warning, he heard, once again, her voice in his mind – though he had grown accustomed to it during their brief times together. However, even when she had had her feud with Gladiolus, she had never used a tone so cold, so icy and spiteful. The fun times were indeed over.

 _I hope you are ready to kill your ningen brethren with no hesitation whatsoever, Hiro. Because it looks like they won't have any qualms with killing us._

"Just give me a few seconds to clean myself and dress up, and I'm ready to get into battle...How did you stay so clean, by the way?"

 _I cleaned myself a few minutes ago, when you still were unconscious. Gladiolus told me you'd be up quickly. So wash this dust out of your body, I'll get you something._

Hiro, after a quick check to make sure no hidden rock was waiting for him at the bottom of the pool, dived in it, noticing the waters weren't as pristine and warm as before. It could have been because the situation wasn't as happy as before, beauty and feelings being in the eyes of the beholder and such, but that could also be because of more grievous damages to the systems of the palace. Ohime had not spoken in detail of all the minor logistics of such a place, but it was evident that a lot of things were keeping the place running, probably built in the place across hundreds of years. She had the full sum of the knowledge of her people, after all. As he was getting out of the pool, feeling his body cleaner and his mind clearer, he met Ohime's eyes, which, even though they were full of worry and stress, still seemed to lighten up a good deal when she saw him emerge, gifting him a full set of clothes – not his stamen uniform, he noticed, giving her a quick surprised glance. As he started dressing up, he heard once again his blue lover explain the situation.

 _I got you something better than the smelly ningen rags you were wearing when you first came here. You're my consort now, you clearly deserve better. Here, let me help you with this..._

Even in such a dire situation, the princess was clearly playful enough to let her fingers wander aimlessly on Hiro's skin instead of ensuring their work was as quick and efficient as possible. A fact that pleased him, going by his big smile and the little kiss he gave to her front horn just before she stepped away to admire her work...and him, of course.

The uniform he was wearing now, the one she had gifted him, was entirely made of a dark fabric, one that covered him like a second skin even better than his old one. Some parts of the suit even mirrored the appearance of the gigantic klaxxosaurs, with cobalt strips that appeared to shine and shimmer at the rate of his heartbeat. On his chest was emblazoned the same symbol of klaxxo royalty that Ohime had worn during their recent duel, a silvery bird opening its mighty wings. No cloak nor mail, nor other gaudy trinkets this time : the need now was to be imposing _and_ efficient.

 _Now you look the part. Come, we need to discuss a strategy about the upcoming war._

She turned back and floated again, faster than he had ever seen her move, towards the heavy gates of the hall, pushing the tons of thick metal away with a mere flick of her finger, letting Hiro wait here, dumbfounded by her quickness to act. Her royal mien had been washed away by the urgency of the situation, and he nearly had to run behind here to make sure she didn't leave without him. Inside of him, he could feel the adrenaline rush and the eager humming of Gladiolus, her impatience rubbing off on him. It would be time for him, for them both, to get on the battlefield again as partners, a fact that seemed to fill her with pride and delight. Vengeance for the old realm, and let the slaughter begin. Their thoughts and feelings converging towards this idea of revenge, this purity of slaughter they would lay upon their enemies like the scythe of the farmer upon the wheat in the fields, they stood there for a few seconds when they saw Ohime enter the room where Honey was still in a coma since their last sortie in Gladiolus. Fearing the worst, Hiro hurried up inside : near the bed of his piloting partner, the princess was now checking a few of the instruments monitoring the comatose Honey, a grim air upon her face.

 _This is bad. The blast seems to have disrupted her state, and my ...it's deteriorating, and it's fast._

"Is there anything we could do to save her?" Hiro's voice was shaky, unsure, frightened. Since his arrival, he had been floating on a comfy cloud, where the only thing dampening his happiness had been the latent... _frustrated_ hostility between Gladiolus and Ohime, which he had brought down to manageable levels. With these words from his blue-skinned lover, everything was now tumbling, no, _crashing_ down, and he was in for a rude awakening. Honey had been his first love, and even if more had decided to enter the competition whose ultimate prize was a place in his bed, she would always hold a special place in his heart. There was no prancing around the issue – she wasn't fine, so he wasn't fine either. And when she would be fine...there was so many things he needed to tell her, so many things he needed to show her.

 _There's a way, though a risky one. She's a klaxxosaur hybrid, I'm sure you noticed it, so a blood transfer could cleanse her body and reactivate some features of her klaxxo heritage. Those of our kind are_ very _difficult to kill, maim or even harm, and with a transfer of royal blood, she could be brought back._

"One second...Didn't you go down quite easily once Gladiolus lent me her strength during our duel? You seemed quite easy to bruise..."

 _That's because Gladiolus outdid herself, once again. That blow you landed would have transformed a ningen's leg in a bloody pulp. Also my legs are quite...sensitive. I'm sure you noticed, you barbarian._

"Alright, alright. So, when are you going to transfer your blood to her? If she's quickly deteriorating, you need to do it _now_. Right?" Hiro's voice was full of hope, a hope that died down when he heard the answer of his lover.

 _I'd love for this to be as simple as you describe. But..._

"But?"

 _But even if she's an hybrid, I don't have the time to analyze her body composition and make sure the transfer won't kill her even faster. We need more information about her and her health. I refuse to take the risk to kill a potential ally... So, unless you have those or know where they could be held..._

"As a matter of fact, I do. All of the health records of the parasites are conserved in the Garden, the fortress where all the children of the continent are raised."

 _If you're right...then we just need to stroll in with an army of my brethren and crush the puny ningens until we get the information we need. Just let me get them in marching order, and we'll be able to save her._

"How long? How long until she can't be saved?"

 _Around fifteen hours, give or take a few dozen minutes. Why are you asking this?_

"No need to get your army. We'll get there by ourselves, it will be easier and faster."

 _ **I don't know what you're thinking about, Master, but it probably involves slaughtering ningens by the score, so it's more than alright by my book.**_

"Just tell me where you are, Gladiolus...or at least, where your metal form is. We're going for a ride, you and me."

As the ethereal voice started whispering the directions directly to his mind, Hiro was about to storm out of the room, when he was stopped by Ohime's tail, wrapping around his shoulders, before she pulled him towards her with a surprising strength. Once he was close enough, a few inches away from her now grumpy face, she started making her thoughts heard again.

 _Where the hell do you think you're going? Both of you._

 _ **Killing some ningens, stealing stuff, getting back for dinner with your data...then, knowing him, my master will probably bend you over some furniture and have his way with you until you can't walk or think straight anymore.**_

 _Stop joking in such a dire situation, Daughter of Carnage._

 _ **Besides the last bit, everything was true, though.**_

"As I envisioned it, the plan was for me to get near the Garden with Gladiolus, leave the FranXX somewhere, sneak inside, kill a few guards, get the data and get back as quickly as possible...so, basically, what Gladiolus said. Minus the last part, it's too early to say." Hiro's explanations were calm and clear, unlike Ohime's reaction, who seemed hurt, scared and saddened in equal measure by the prospect of Hiro going back on the battlefield, even if it was only as some kind of spy.

 _I'm not going to let you get back there. At least not alone and unprepared like this. So, if you want to go there, I have two conditions. First, you take a weapon..._

"Sounds fair."

 _ **Of course we will take a weapon! Who is she mistaking us for? Ningens?...No offence, of course, master.**_

 _...And my second condition is for me to come with you, just in case things go awry. And they always go awry. I'm not going to let my mate disappear because he decided that charging headlong into a ningen hive was the good course of action. You want to go in there to save her? Then, I'm coming too. For your sake._

Hiro was stunned by her words. Of course, they had shared a lot recently, but he would have never imagined such a steadfast loyalty from her, especially to help him save Honey. As he looked at her with surprise, she fidgeted a bit, quite uneasy under his gaze, before taking his hand.

... _Besides, the old laws decree that the wives of a prince have to help each other in times of need, and she does need help. I won't disobey them._

Before letting him the opportunity to ask all the questions her answer was raising – Was he officially, by her laws, a _prince_? Was multiple wives such an important phenomenon in the klaxxo culture and civilization that they had to implement laws to codify their behavior in such situations? When did Ohime start considering herself as his wife? When did she start considering _Honey_ as his wife? Was Gladiolus _theoretically_ his wife too? How many wives would he have married at the end of this story? – she pulled him towards another room, one that was locked behind a metal door. She opened it quickly, typing a code on the electronic lock protecting her secrets. And what secrets indeed...from the floor to the roof, there was no part of the walls that wasn't covered in weapons, of all shapes, sizes and kinds. Standing on the doorway, Hiro was pretty sure he heard a moan of ecstatic bliss from Gladiolus, unable himself to tell if he was aroused or frightened by the mere sight of all of these death instruments, adorning by hundreds the walls of the great room. Probably both. With an arsenal like this, assaulting the Garden as a one-man army would be, no doubt, child's play.

 _ **This will be fun, master...**_

* * *

"So...what the hell, Papa?"

The words were coming from the councilwoman, but reflected accordingly what everyone else in the room was thinking. Well, nearly everyone, seeing as Hachi had been working with FranXX to prepare the fireworks and how Papa's first assistant, despite his general lack of subtlety and horrendous rhyming, was always very well informed about the events to come. Papa himself, benevolent leader of mankind, had just made clearer a path towards the victory of mankind upon its reviled enemies. Klaxxosaurs had met their new nightmare in the form of the latest magma weapons, which had stunned – sometimes literally – the onlookers. Once the resulting tinnitus had disappeared, he sat at his place, before speaking again to his colleagues. No doubt about another grand design, a plan to lead humanity. to salvation. Well, after the thunder of war came the scratching of paper, as the rest of the session was supposed to be dedicated to the budget balance.

"Seeing how this new kind of weapon seems to be the newest, and maybe most efficient way to get rid of klaxxosaurs – though I'd welcome a report on the subject from Werner, since he seems to be _once again_ behind it – I propose a massive reduction of the Parasite Program." explained one of the members, his metallic voice ringing nastily into the room. "After all, we just need these to exterminate klaxxosaurs when they show up, so we won't have to keep those pilots entertained in their pretty little homes."

"According to Werner's early presentation..."

"He made a presentation?"

"Check your mailbox, it just arrived. Anyway, according to his presentation," said the councilwoman, a bit exasperated by the interruption of her colleague, "these weapons are in fact special-made FranXX using the dregs of the Program, who are sent in a suicide mission. Like some kind of super-protocol 32. You know, the 600+ Codes, the useless ones. One man's trash is another one's treasure, as they say. So we probably won't be able to cut out his funding...Oh shit, in fact, he's asking for _more_ of it."

"What if we only keep the Program proper running for the cream of the crop and send the others to this new suicide option? We get enough children as it is to do it this way, right?"

"Define 'cream of the crop'."

"The 100-and-under ones? Werner once told us they were around 4,5% of the total. Maybe 5% once you factor in the attrition rate."

"Mmmh, sounds like a good idea. No need for the rest of those pesky kids, after all. What says you, Hachi? Anything to add?"

"I think we could go up to 150, and give Werner a little boost to his funding to help him make his conversion towards this new model a bit easier. Besides, he also need to make sure his most efficient pilots get the best FranXX – including the Initiative Nine, of course."

"Shit, I forgot he was relaunching this one. Any news about when it's going to be done?"

"Anyway..." Papa cut, his voice once again an unending well of benevolence and kindness towards his hardworking colleagues."Seeing as the differences in budget will be money leaving one department of Werner's lab towards another, I think we can safely decide to let him assign it as he sees fit – as long as he gets results in the areas we want him to explore."

"Sounds alright to me. Speaking of which, does anyone have results about the hybrid who's now in charge of the Hybrid Program? Code 005?"

"It's Code 004, Code 005 was the hybrid who deserted with Code 016 a few months ago. Also, according to her report, everything is going according to plan. Werner and Amanda even seem to be better than ever at working together."

"According to plan...something we have not heard for a very long time, right guys?"

"We could say that..." agreed Papa. "But don't worry, as I can promise you this : our organization...and mankind, of course...will prevail, and whatever the klaxxosaurs have in store won't be able to stop us."

 _Your move, Princess._

* * *

Once again, she was back to her lab. The little "celebration" with FranXX had been weird and the reason for it very unsettling, but all things considered it had been quite nice : times like these, spent chatting and talking about the good old times, nearly managed to make her forget that the old pervy man was probably the biggest threat to her survival and to her upcoming plans. He could be charming, in his butt-pinching, flask-emptying, foul-mouthed kind of way – but he wouldn't hesitate one second to stab her in the back if he ever thought that could give him more funding from the Sages. Or if she ever threatened his position in the chain of command of APE. There was _a lot_ of reasons why he would decide to end her career or even her life definitely ; and as such, many more reasons for her to stay hidden there during her... very own special experiments. Such as making Code 703 perfect for her nefarious purposes.

She went back to the control panel of the machine and started going over it again, sure that she could...

 _It was already on._

Amanda FranXY quickly checked the time : it had been more than three hours since she had left her lab after Werner's call. Three hours. The protocol she was supposed to be testing with this totally new field of brain chemistry alteration was suppose to have a maximum length of ten minutes for the original calibration. Here, the program had seemingly been running for nearly _twenty times_ this maximum theoretical limit. That wasn't just dangerous, that was downright insane. FranXY had expected to operate on her mind like a physician on a tumor, cutting away the useless to replace it with strength, power and loyalty. Now, without her, the machine had done its deed with the insane lack of subtlety of a battering ram, probably causing irreparable damages to Code 703's brain. The crippled subject in the stasis chamber was now most likely as good as dead, and the least FranXY could do would be to alleviate her suffering by a good old mercy killing, which her experiment subject's tormented mind would welcome as a form of freedom from pain, the last that she would be able to enjoy. Even the extensive memorywiping technology APE had created during their years in power – thinking of it, one of the biggest innovations that had been developed without her or Werner at the helm of the project – could not save her now. Amanda closed up the brain calibration program that had been running for so long, before taking a long inspiration. There was no way to terminate the existence of Code 703 without taking her out of stasis and doing it herself...Well, if the experiment was a failure anyway – and with such a stupid mistake, it could not be otherwise – she could _at least_ try to get something out of it and use this little failure to test one of the latest chemical that had been developed by the chemistry department. Charming people, always smiling and talking about their latest products. Not at all aggressive assholes like in the higher-ups of the Parasite Program. She had the product, she had the syringe, time to combine the two of them for this last experiment. Wanting to stay a bit professional in this occasion that was dangerously nearing the status of "total F-up", as they said in the labs, she opened her personal recorder and started talking, trying to sound as sure and calm as possible :

"Amanda FranXY, test exposition LDL-52. Test subject today is Code 703, supposed to suffer from degenerative brain damage. It is unlikely that she recovers, so she's been scheduled for chemical experimentation, by exposing her to an intraveinous injection of 5,5 ml of LDL-52. Opening the stasis chamber...now."

That was one of these days, when the only thing lacking in the background was dramatic music. Amanda always refused to put up a soundtrack system in her workspace – music, for her, was for later, when she came out of the shower, got her bathrobe and her slippers, and spent the rest of the evening with some very old jazz recordings and comfy pre-APE literature. Here, anyway, jazz would not have been a great choice, she thought as the doors of the stasis chambers slowly opened, the conservation mechanisms ceasing their work one after the other. She was still there, of course. Code 703 couldn't have left this device anyway : sturdy straps and other bondage implements were ensuring this as much as the sub-zero tech that was used here.

"Stasis chamber open. We can now proceed with the lethal injection. Sweet dreams, Code 703, and thanks for your sacrifice in the name of..."

She never finished that sentence.

* * *

 _ **So, master...what do you want to take?**_

"I don't know...so many different choices...what do you have in store exactly?" Hiro's voice and sparkling eyes were making clear he was marvelling at the sheer number and diversity of the weapons that were shown here. There was a bit...well, _a lot_...of everything. Some of these weapons, the magnificent staves and swords, each one of them a treasure of smithing excellency, he recognized from his training ; and likewise, he understood the global purposes of many a refined blade, be it a ragged and sinister one at the end of a pole, or a tiny one, designed to be hidden then drawned in the flash of an eye. He had not been trained in these, not all of them, of course. It would have taken him a lifetime, not just a few months under the tender wardship of his Honey. He broke out of his weapon-induced trance just in time to hear Ohime's answer.

 _Everything that is on display here, little prince. Even me, but I'm already coming with you, so you have to take something else. I'd love to explain what these weapons are, but, to be honest with you...I'm not_ that _good at the war and fighting stuff. Gladiolus is the expert if you need advice or information. Did you know she used to be a history teacher, before our wars?_

 _ **And, may I add, a damn good one...before I joined the army to become an**_ **even better** ** _soldier and general. So ask away, master. Whatever you need to know, I'll be there to tell you._**

"Are you still a virgin?"

The question left the two partners in crime of Hiro stunned for a few seconds, before Ohime sighed once again, leaning against the closest wall between two impressive two-handed swords, making sure to not get hurt by their no less impressive edges, some of them able to rival the weird poetry of one peculiar hybrid pilot.

 _Even in a place with so many different weapons, you still think first and foremost with your own cudgel. You never stop, do you?_

 _ **Yes, I am still a virgin...and in that condition, I'll be one forever too, forcing me to rely on seeing you commit what your kind probably call "war crimes" on your own loathsome brethren to get any form of pleasure. That, or getting a taste of your own feelings and sensations when you're busy mating with another. That's fine too...I guess...**_

"Sorry, Gladiolus. So, what kind of weapon would you recommend for this mission? I trust your expertise on this kind of things, you know..." Hiro's voice was trying to be as sincere as possible, and not only because the tone in his bride's voice was suddenly a lot more depressed and sad than he ever thought possible in such circumstances. To be fair, he had once again decided to charge headlong into a dangerous zone.

 _ **That's alright, Hir...Master. You already showed me about your skill with a staff, so what about some kind of staff-based weapon? A spear of some sort? However, with all that we have here...Implying you won't have to fight in formation with other people...that you will have to fight in tight spaces...that you will need to be sneakier than usual...Let me think about it for a few seconds. Sword? Poleaxe? Mallet? Hmm...What says you, Master?**_

"Alright Ohime, show me what kind of ranged weapons you have. If there's one lesson I remember from my training times, it's that no melee weapon can beat a good old gun."

 _ **Are you some kind of cowardly pissant to refuse the glory of melee combat? Does your blood run cold at the idea of tearing up an enemy who's not a little girl in a glorious bloodbath? Do you have no gonads due to your late night romps with the princess? Curse on you, curse on your father and on your entire race of monsters!**_

"...You seem especially pissy today. Actually, I just wanted to see the available guns while you were pondering about the different options. Having another choice of arms during this little adventure of ours will probably help us a lot, don't you think?"

 _ **Oh...Uh...Hmm...I'm..I'm really sorry, master, it's just...I'm a bit stressed about this new hunt together. It's the first one where we will ride together as equals, you know? My first real battle in a very long time, where I'm not here as a ride or as a monster. The first one with a true partner, with...Sorry once again, silly ramblings. The choice weapon of princes in the old war against the Nyanxx Empire usually was some large polearm, mowing down legions of feline enemies with them. Take one of these and you're sure to do the same with anyone daring to stand in your way. Here, the one with the red handle.**_

"Huh. Never had to handle such a weapon, you know?" In spite of this remark, Hiro was nevertheless very interested in the weird halberd she was showing him, one with a shorter – less than six feet – haft and a broad, curved blade, its surface shining with a reddish hue, at its end. Putting his hand on the dark metal hilt, he felt a sudden impression of _déja vu_ , picturing himself in a field of shadowy forms, cutting them down by the dozen, like a whirlwind of steel and pain. He winced in disgust at such a strange situation, feeling Gladiolus' tense silence as he withdrew his hand from it. There seemed to be a link between her and the polearm, one that he preferred not to dwell on now. He turned his gaze towards Ohime, who, turning her back to him, was rummaging through the chests full of weapons and ammo. As if she wanted to dissuade him from coming back on her choice, Gladiolus started speaking again.

 _ **Also, don't worry about this melee weapon. Just like I can grant you my strength, I can grant you my skill at arms. This kind of muscle memory doesn't die easily...besides, you already showed me you were quite good with a staff, so you shouldn't be too bad with this kind of weapon.**_

"That's very nice of you to say it. Any luck with finding something to cull the 'ningens', as you say, from a distance, Ohime?"

 _Just one more second, I'm sure I have it here...Found it!_

The weapon she showed him was an impressively big yet slender pistol, one that rivalled in the size department most of the handguns he had to handle during his training. A streamlined, dangerous golden beast, whose barrel had been reworked to give it the form of a dragon ready to burn enemies to a crisp in its fiery breath. The handle was covered in a soft leather-like fabric, and, under the sight that adorned it, a tiny incription was etched in the gold plating of the flashy weapon. Hiro, pushed by curiosity, tried to read slowly, before quickly understanding that these runes were probably the way the klaxxo civilization used for their alphabet and writing. Nevertheless, he asked :

"Ohime, what's written here?"

 _It's a very old saying of our people, originally used to talk about the duty of messengers and news-bringers, which was to be as fast as possible and to always reach their recipients. During the NyanXX wars, it has then been used to portray the shots of our weapons, which were as fast and as precise as the messengers of yore. It says, approximatively,_ _"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"._

 _ **Heh. Rounds. Because it's a gun, got it master?**_

"Yeah, I think I do. Are all your weapons so...flashy? I don't dislike it, it's just that I thought your race would put less emphasis on looks, and more on brute efficiency."

 _ **That's because this place is a reliquary. Every single weapon here is a master-crafted one, a part of the history of our race. The Mailman, whose reproduction you're holding here, rose to the top when I was just a little girl. These replicas are as faithful to the originals as it could be...You have my deepest respect in this regard, princess.**_

"Alright, alright, I'm not going to question your judgement about what kind of weapons I should take. Just let me get a bit familiar with those, and we're good to go. We're leaving in thirty minutes, so let's get ready in fifteen." Hiro said, taking the lead in this situation as well as both the gun and the polearm, before heading for the room where he had, a while ago, showed his skill and strength to Ohime. As he remembered – even if, during the duel, he had been mostly focused on his rival's entrancing curves and deadly strikes – one of the walls was covered with shooting targets. First, the gun. He prepared the weapon, marvelling once more at the impression of power he felt with it. Just like Honey had showed him months ago, though with a lot less grace and poise than his partner, he quickly raised the pistol, aiming at the wall, before shooting three times at his target in rapid succession.

Nearly no recoil. Negligeable noise. Utter and complete annihilation of his target, who was now a pile of burning waste in front of a blackened wall. All in all, a great success. He examined the weapon again, taking a bit of time to understand how the different parts of the weapon were working together to produce such a result. What could be the source of such power?

 _ **If I remember correctly, the Mailman was supposed to be fueled by the same process that lights the stars and gives the sun its rays. I could be wrong, it's been a very long time since I took a physics course. However, I could tell you in how many battles it was used, if that's something you want to know.**_

"Maybe another time. Any insights about the best use of this kind of weapon, seeing as you clearly have more experience wielding this than I have?"

 _ **Two shots to the body and one for the head, don't stop to think about the daily life of the people you're removing from the genepool, don't listen to their screams of agony unless they have something important or interesting to say. There's a selective fire option on the side...and I'm pretty sure the Mailman can be used as a flamethrower if worst comes to worst. Some way to remove the waste from the fuel source, if I remember correctly. Any other questions, dear master?**_

"How did you go from a history teacher to a soldier?"

 _ **That's a story for another time. One day, I promise, I will tell you everything about my past life, and you'll do the same ; but for now, let's not get ahead of ourselves, and let's talk weapons and killing techniques. Do we have a deal, master?**_

"Alright, Gladiolus, we have a deal. Maybe, one day, I'll be able to understand fully the history of your people." Hiro smiled slightly as he answered her, before holstering the Mailman – who the hell could give such a name to such a gilded instrument of blasting death? – and taking the shaft of the polearm with his two hands. Once again, he felt something weird with the weapon, an ominous feeling. Clearing his throat, he spoke again :

"Gladiolus? Seeing as you're quite the weapon expert, where is this one from? Well, where was the original from?"

 _ **I told you these were the weapons of our princes in the times when we still had to fight hand to hand against our enemies – afterwards, when the Nyanxx Empire fell after the destruction of their cities, their capitol razed to the ground and their armies destroyed, they became a symbol of prestige and honor among our kind. This kind of halberd was used by royal guards, duelists, kings...A lot of people of our race loved it, for its history and efficiency. Even as VIRM was trying to stray us from our path towards the stars, a lot of our generals still used...or at the very least kept... their own on the battlefield. By wielding it in battle, you're joining thousands of proud heroes of our race in a tradition that is...well, millions of years old now.**_

"Huh. Did you have one, during your time as a general?" Hiro was feeling a growing interest towards the explanations of his bride. There was something both soothing and exalted in the way she was talking about the glorious past of her race – her students, back in the days, were probably very lucky to have her as a teacher.

 _ **I rose to my rank two generations before the last king of our realm. I mastered every weapon known to our kind, and used every single one of them to kill. Do you know what was the last nickname my brethren gave me? The Five Wars Prodigy – because I single-handedly won these wars, and not only giving orders behind the legions, but also wading through blood and guts to kill and conquer, and win! Do you want to know if I had a Dragonclaw? Yes, I had one, master. And during my times of peace, she was hanging on the wall, just above my bed.**_

 _ **Though, to be fair, I preferred the great axe. A bigger head, a bigger and heavier edge. Perfect for when I**_ **really** ** _wanted to cut things down, be it trees or still living corpses._**

"A Dragonclaw? That's a...nice name. I suppose that's to describe the shape. Also, I know it's kind of a personal question, but...did you name this weapon of yours? Like this gun is named the _Mailman,_ I mean." Hiro was feeling the subject was kind of a dangerous one. Sure, Gladiolus had no way to hurt him, and even in her moody phases she was rather prone to come back to him. But the last thing he needed in this expedition was having his blood bride on a less than optimal mood.

 _ **You seem to like digging at my past, dear master. To answer your question...my own weapon was called the Crimson Lotus. And don't believe the lies of the princess if she ever tries to tell you that it was my nickname in some circles. Those who used it are dead anyway. Also, if the princess ever uses it to refer to me, kick her ass swiftly, please.**_

Hiro did not comment on it, taking a moment to esteem the weight and balance of the polearm. To his surprise, it wasn't _that_ hard to handle. He went for a flourish or two, trying to get accustomed to the strange feeling that both weight and balance were shifting during the movements of the shaft and blade, a shift that intensified as the weapon was quickly revolving, as if the mass distribution was moving inside. As he was about to ask about it to Gladiolus, he heard her answer before his question, understanding what he was going through with his weapon :

 _ **Quicksilver inside the weapon. Makes for a more damaging blow when you hit. Here, let me show you what you can do with a bit of skill...**_

For a second, the young stamen felt an icy shiver travel down his spine. A moment later, the feeling was replaced by unending strength ; without even thinking about it, Hiro started whirling the weapon around, as he would have with a more conventional staff. As he had shown to Ohime, he wasn't half bad with a weapon he knew and mastered, but this wasn't just _being half bad_. This was above and beyond the skill of mere mortals. Every gesture, every move, was the result of decades of training pouring into his veins and muscles like blood. His understanding – well, Gladiolus' understanding – of the ebb and flow of mercury inside the shaft and blade was reaching supernatural levels. As, in one swift circular strike and a salute, the former parasite finished the preternatural display of skill, he heard clapping behind him.

 _Very impressive...I guess you're satisfied with your weapons. Let's hope you two will show as much style during your battles. Anyway, your metal body is primed and ready, Maiden of Slaughter. If you're over with this parade, can we go? We won't save your partner without getting on the field, little prince._

"I'm ready. Both of you are coming, and I have both the...Mailman, and the Crimson Lotus. We can't possibly fail this mission. Not with the kind of people that guard the Garden."

 _ **Master? What do you mean with this 'Crimson Lotus' comment? What are you...trying to imply...What...why?**_

"Just a thought I had. Seeing as you're clearly the ones calling the shots when I'm using it, it's just like you were the one using it, so...it's fair to say that it's kind of your weapon, right?

As such, it felt natural to call it like that. Unless I'm mistakingly breaking some klaxxo social taboo, in that case I'm sorry and..." Hiro's explanations were cut short by the pallid face of Ohime, who seemed mortified by the situation.

 _I guess I'm supposed to congratulate you both...I'll explain the consequences of your actions later, little prince. Let's just say you're going to be...quite surprised. But enough talking, our ride is waiting for us._

It was fair to say that Hiro was a bit surprised about the form Gladiolus had taken. Of course, he had a few memories about the beast of metal and hatred, but it was a thing to remember some figments and another to see it in front of him, a gigantic dragon ready to kill and devour for the glory of her master. Teal scales and golden spine, and a gaze burning blue even without a pilot. For now it was a cold corpse of biometal, a golem created from the klaxxosaur that Gladiolus had once been, after she had discarded her body of flesh and bone to become a living weapon. A golem that still had managed to keep a part of her alive, until the moment Hiro had managed to awaken her and tie her fate to his own. It took a few minutes to Hiro and Ohime to reach and activate the colossus, the blue princess inserting her tentacles into the holes where the arms and legs of a pistil were supposed to get inserted.

 _This dead, tormented carcass isn't the body you were promised, Gladiolus. You were supposed to protect this earth until the end of times, not be destroyed and transformed into this...monstrosity...You, and all of our other brethren. We will destroy them for this outrage._

 _ **Don't worry about the revenge part. We're about to get a good old-fashioned slaughter in the coming hours, so there's going to be enough revenge for a lot of fallen soldiers today. Or, at the very least, I hope so.**_

"Alright, let's head towards the Garden. I don't know if the people in charge of the security have changed, but _theoretically_ it should not be too hard to get in, kill some people, get Honey's file back and hope there's enough information to know if your blood will kill or save her."

Metal scales and alien flesh started shifting and screeching, the baleful dragon coming back to life as princess and prince connected to its body. The time for earthy pleasures, for lewd gratifications and pleasant discussions about ancient empires had come to an end. It was now time to kill and maim and burn, time to call for death and havoc and bloody murder, time to save a partner and to purge anyone and anything that would dare to stand in the way of this virtuous quest.

"This..."

... _Will..._

 _ **...Be...**_

...Fun."

* * *

Of all the places in the Garden, Code 003's sanctuary was probably one of the least used. Not only because nobody liked him enough to get here to look for him, but also because he himself wasn't there often. For such a long time, he had been a lone wolf of the battlefields of APE, appearing on the horizon when the fight against klaxxosaurs was totally and utterly lost. He then usually proceeded to wreck the monsters single-handedly, with a bit of collateral damage, and, in some cases, he dropped a corpse into the plantation he had just saved. But now? Now there was no harem of loyal pistils waiting for him. No adoration in their gazes as they saw the handsome hybrid that would give them a chance to die for Papa, and would, afterwards, carry them himself to their final resting place. Now, he was confined to this backwards base where the children of APE were raised to be warriors.

Of course, he still remembered the face and the code of his first partner. He would forever remember it, until his final second – and at this final second he would have her code on his lips and her face in his mind. _Code 005_. Clear as the morning light was the memory of this moment where he had seen her for the first time : it was supposed to be his first _real_ test in a FranXX, but he already knew his fate would be one of greatness and power, a tale written in blood and darkness for the glory of Papa. He would be his right-hand man, his executioner, his _favorite son_. And for this, wasn't he supposed to have the best partner, a dark bride helping him carry out the volition of the Supreme Leader of APE, the All-Mighty Papa? Wasn't he supposed, as the best stamen, to get the best pistil?

He wasn't the only one to think this. Among the leaders of mankind, among the Seven Sages, there were several who thought that uniting their best pilots would be a great idea. This old bastard of Hakase had of course accepted – how could he refuse an offer that could increase his funding and validate every single one of his theories about the hybrids' efficiency? At the time, they still could see eye to eye, as 003 was his crowning achievement.

 _Reiza. Reiza. Reiza. 003 is the code Hakase gave me. Reiza is the name I found for myself in the deepest fathoms of suffering, in the crucible of pain where I discovered my true strength._

He had then discovered the one that was supposed to be his partner. Code 005. The "first among equals" of the parasite program, the last one to be created and the first one to reach maturity. The _blue one_ , as the Seven Sages called her. He had met her twice before they were supposed to ride "officially", and he had lost himself, and everything else, in her eyes, drowning in a gaze that had the color of the ocean under the stars. Her smile, her face, her everything...he had spent the night before their sortie unable to sleep, traumatized by her memory, branded forever. When he had met her again, this third time, it had been with every single member of the Sages here for the event, and most military commanders of the different plantations. Every single one of them had witnessed his failure. Of all the memories he had with Honey, the one of what had happened this fateful day in Urtica had been ripped away from his mind, letting only the bitter taste of his failure. They had told him what had happened, how much unwanted destruction he had caused, how much he had disappointed them, crushing both his dreams and their own. Unlike the rest of the ordeal, the look of scorn and utter contempt she had for him could never be erased, no matter how hard he tried.

As he got up from his bed, where he had been once again meditating, fixated on the pain coming from his hands and wrists, he approached his _shrine_ – in fact shelves covered with memorabilia from his piloting missions – before sitting on a cushion, right in front of a few items that had a special importance for him, looking at them in the dim light of the place. At the center, framed in the nicest frame he could find, there was a picture, and an official one at that. One that had been taken just before his...incident with 005 in Urtica. One where the two hybrids were here and smiling – probably the only one of this kind in the Garden. Hakase had given it to him, though he did not know if that was some kind of taunt to remind him of his failure or a sincere gift to cheer him up. With the old perverted man, who could know? Around it, three items of a more...morbid nature, seeing as they were the conserved skulls of the three first pistils that had piloted with him _willingly_. The first three that had spitten at the face of their imminent deaths and had accepted their fate to pilot with the Pistil-Killer. To most of them, at first, there was no choice, and their deaths were usually of the gruesome sort. But these three...Code 067, Code 014 and Code 019...all of them, still alive at the second ride, had been given the choice to opt out of piloting with him, get a more...normal partner, and serve Papa in many other battles. The three of them had refused to let him down. And the three of them had been devoured, metaphorically of course. Of all the faceless, nameless legions of pistils that had been riding with him, these were the only ones whose deaths he was feeling responsible for. How many? A hundred? Maybe more? And out of these dozens and dozens of dead pistils, only three that had willingly chosen their fate. They also had been the last ones to do it, seeing as Papa and his cronies had decided to toughen the requirements and obligations for the members of his "harem".

Just on the shelves beneath, there were two other things he had a special relationship with : the two _magma swords_ he had received, as a gift from Papa, once the news of his numerous military success against the klaxxosaurs had reached the heights of the flying fortress. The two weapons had probably been a pain in the ass to engineer correctly, but the result had been thoroughly enjoyed by the hybrid stamen : two slightly curved blades, each one of them longer than his arm. The metal used for their edge was some light, highly resistant and very hard alloy, the kind of product that was needed for FranXX weapons and plating. Moreover, a secret mechanism running inside the twin swords was giving them an unexpected _edge_ (heh) against unexpecting enemies, by superheating it in a span of a few seconds. Even in the times of APE leadership, even freed from the chains of age and mortality by Papa, mankind was still ruled by its instinctive fear of fire, which had been banning the shadows and the fierces beasts of the night, but taking its toll by its unending hunger. A fear that the legendary Pistil-Killer was ready to exploit, just like he would exploit every single fear of the ones still standing on his path. One of his swords, he had called _Darkness_ , and the other one, _Entropy_. To the hells the flowery names of the FranXX, and with them their creators! He would give his weapons the names they deserved, names that would reflect accordingly what purpose was theirs. Though, to be fair, it had been too long since he had used them. When blood had soaked their edges, most of the time, it was due to the need to mercy-kill one of his partners. Most of the ones who survived the second ride were in a...dismal state, one that warranted a bit of mercy. Just like the horses of the old world, who used to be killed if they ever broke one of their legs.

That probably would not happen with his current partner, however. As much as he loathed to admit it to himself, there was something in her that made him feel week and uneasy. _Inadequate_ , that was the word. She had rejected him, just like her _sister_. And, as much as he believed 005, during their incident, had never _really_ wanted to hurt him, 004 had managed to make him suffer, twice – even if both times had happened in a very short time. He looked at his hands, carefully, as if being too interested in them would make them fall out. Both were still painful under the wraps covering the wounds, but the pain was duller and more manageable than before. That was a good thing, both the pain and its evolution. Pain was needed, was helpful. And the fact that it was diminishing proved that his body was healing, learning from it as it should. This event had shown him how much 004 would be ready to go to protect herself, how much pain she would be ready to cause – even to him, his own partner – to survive. He respected this, in a way. He would not tolerate it from her again, but he could respect such a fire, such a will to stay unharmed. Just like his own, in a way.

Even during the battle against the klaxxosaurs today. She had proven herself an invaluable partner, even if the stakes were very low. A couple of Goblin-class? The lowest class ever created by the APE classification system? The dregs of the dregs? The weakest of the weaks? The absolute trash of the klaxxosaur herds? On the plus size, it had been quick and easy, just a bit of training, and mindless slaughter, to get accustomed to his partner. She was able to hold her ground without ever flinching even with him as a partner, which was already a very good sign. She had connected with him flawlessly, which was another very good sign. The first ride together was supposed to be the most hazardous one, with pistil and stamen not having previous experience with each other. The most interesting point – for him – had been, beyond the mere fighting abilities, the attitude 004 had shown during the battle. She was sharp, efficient, _professional_. She was everything he had dreamed to be during his early years, before he had met 005. Before she had rejected him. Before he had learned to cultivate the darkness inside of him, to focus on the seething pain, to become something better, harder, more powerful and _dangerous_. In a way, he could have been like her, and that's probably why they were so good at the little 'connection' game. He could have been totally different, had she not rejected her. Had she not be taken away from him. His hands reflexively clenched into fists and a sudden jolt of pain coursed through his arms.

 _Once again, everything was the fault of that little 016 bastard_.

Because of him, he had lost his status of Favorite Son of Papa when he had failed to bring him...and 005...back. He had lost his beautiful purple horns and his body had been mangled during the battle. Moreover, that _Hiro_ had left such a burning impression upon his psyche that the mere mention of the rebel was enough to make his blood pump faster, like a stream of pure hatred directly injected in his veins. Fixating his eyes on 005's picture, he tried to quell these feelings roaring in him. One day, he would find him. The rogue stamen would get his comeuppance, and he would save _her_.

That was his destiny. He was sure of it now. The path was too clear, too simple, to _not_ be one of the incarnations of fate. He was destined to kill Hiro and save his girl. He was almost giddy with excitement as he understood that one day, _one fucking day_ , everything, at long last, would be alright.

 _This will be fun._

* * *

Of all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest were "Another disciplinary hearing for parasites getting away from duty to fuck like rabbits in their FranXX instead _again_ ". At the very least, that was Werner's opinion right now, as he was looking at the two little shits, members of the Garden reserves, that had the gall to do it. Having a good relationship with your partner, and with the other members of your squad in general, was of course a plus in a job that required to literally connect with other people. However, relationships evolving past the sexual levels were usually closely monitored, for two reasons.

The first one was _obviously_ the risk of unwanted pregnancy : parasites were supposed to be ready to fight and die for Papa at every waking moment, not try to leave a trace of their passage on this Earth. Parental instincts were a powerful thing, probably powerful enough to change the behavior of some parasites, to make them act beyond their indoctrination. Moreover, as they were supposed to be able to get on the field quickly and every time they were needed, a pregnancy – and the loss of a pair, so around twenty percent of the combat efficiency of a squad, for the time it took – was utterly unacceptable. As soon as these happened and were detected, the parasite pair was broken, the pregnancy terminated, the mind wiped clean of everything that could have happened between them, and both the stamen and the pistil were used to replace losses in separate plantations.

However, here, the pregnancy had not been the problem. The problem was, officially, _dereliction of duty_ and _desertion_. This pair had not reached the status of impregnation, but they had been dangerously close to do it...and, preferring to stay away from the battlefield, had refused to come for their deployment against another new threat, less than one hour ago...during which their _entire squad_ had been wiped out. Two survivors, out of a Garden reserve squad, because they were too busy having oral sex in their FranXX to answer the call of battle. Would they have been able to change anything by being there, in battle, with their squad mates? Maybe, maybe not, that kind of question wasn't exactly the most important one for Werner right now, as he was reading the report of the incident, both parasites sitting in front of him in handcuffs and two grunts behind them. The pistil was a blonde, green-eyed, average-sized nice-looking girl ; but, in this day and age, every girl was nice-looking, having been genetically engineered to be more attractive by the APE Science Department, which he controlled. After all, physical beauty played a much bigger role for the arousal of males, and arousal was the first step on the road towards a steady connection. The stamen himself was tall, a bit on the lanky side, and his brown eyes were the exact same color as his hair. For now, these eyes were expressing a healthy dose of fear and hatred. Sighing heavily, Hakase looked at their faces before speaking.

"So, kids, looks like you fucked up. And not only 'up', if I can say so myself. _Desertion and dereliction of duty_ – that's what is written here. I'm sure you have a dozen or so excuses to explain why you abandoned your post, and I know every single one of them. But right now, your squad is dead, because you did abandon your post and failed them."

He looked briefly at them, seeing only a healthy mix of despair and shame in their eyes, before continuing :

"Anyway, as I said, you have failed the Garden, you failed your squad, you failed APE, you failed Papa...in short, you basically failed everyone. You know, in the old days, the soldiers who deserted in time of war exposed themselves to death penalty. There were many gruesome kinds of punishment inflicted to the deserters, for one very simple, good reason. Let one soldier desert, let one soldier think he can desert without any consequences, and one day, every single one of them will, because war _sucks._ Fortunately, we discovered a way to make sure you will still be able to be useful to our cause, without resorting to such barbaric methods. We might even say consequences for these crimes...will never be the same. Just let me check your code numbers..."

The pistil was Code 422. The stamen was code 149. Goddamn.

"Well, I have good news, and bad news. Let's start with the good news...both of you will live, I'm afraid. Can't send you to the meatgrinder...and I'm speaking about the _literal_ one."

There was a short-lived flash of relief in their eyes, which quickly vanished when they both understood that this was just a side of the coin.

"The bad news is, once you're out of this room, you're going to get through an extensive process to make sure this...little situation won't happen again. Basically, your minds will be wiped clean of everything that could potentially be a problem in your coming short lives. Let's start with you, lad : as a low-ish code number, you won't get the short end of the stick. You're under 150, so you'll get to live and fight again for the glory of Papa. With another partner, of course. A _better_ one. Because, lass, honestly with these numbers you won't cut it, so after you get brainwashed into a perfect little soldier, you will join the _Valhalla Squads_. Like the name? One of my ideas. Basically, we're going to put you into a big bomb-like FranXX with another dummy code, pump you full of se...full of _experimental drugs_ , point you at the enemy and suicide-explode all over his face in a gigantic blast of protocol 32. You will kill probably more klaxxos like this than you did for the entirety of your dummy code life. So you will have the right to die a glorious death in battle to get some enemies PROTOCOL'd, as I say."

"So, to sum it up, I'd say both of you will die a meaningless death for a meaningful cause, though not at the same time neither at the same place, and you won't remember each other while doing so. Sounds like a fair punishment for your crime, and less barbaric than getting a galloping horse to rip out your guts, right?"

Both of them were crying, trying to get a bit of comfort in each other's presence. After a few seconds, the stamen, Code 149, asked, his voice caught between fear, anger and despair :

"Why? Why are you telling this now?"

The old man in a lab coat shrugged.

"Once in a while, when I can do so, I like to be honest. Besides, you deserve to know what is going to happen, even if you will forget it in a few hours. Let that sink in, as they say."

"You...you are a monster...a MONSTER!". The pistil's cries for mercy, and the trails of tears running down her cheeks, would have maybe swayed Werner's heart in another time, another place. When he was still human, maybe. But now...humanity was something he had discarded a long time ago. Turning his back to the two kids, he uttered, with the most mysterious, the most prophetic-sounding voice he could muster.

"You're right, in a way. In order to vainquish the monsters, I had to become the monster. _Mankind_ had to become a bigger monster than the klaxxosaur threat. We have looked too long into the depths of the abyss, and now the abyss is looking back."

Cutting out his grand display of acting, he talked again after a short pause, this time to the guards who were still there, watching the scene without any interest towards what was happening whatsoever. Just a normal day at the Garden.

"Ok guys, you can bring them to the brainwashing session. Anyway, have fun kids."

It is fair to say that the 'kids' he was referring to did not take it easy. There was a lot of crying, of pushing, of protesting against this unfair treatment. After all, it was just _one time_ , ok? And the others were just jobbers...their pairing was the most efficient of the squad! However loud their complaints, however vigourous their wiggling, there was no escaping the iron grasp of the APE guards, just as there wasn't any hope to escape APE itself for normal parasites. _Such is life for the unimportant NPCs_ , pondered Werner, taking a sip of his iron flask as their cries were getting less and less audible. As he sat back at his desk, he heard a knock on the door, to which he answered, swallowing with difficulty, with a slurred "Come in!"

After entering the room with a stance full of respect, a grunt saluted him. His uniform was clean and recently ironed, a few medals shining on his massive torso, and two pistols were holstered at his waist. Clearly, this one was a higher-up but, unlike a lot of high-level members of the APE guard, he did not seem hostile to the chairman of the Science Department.

"Good evening, sir. I'm Matricule MK-A-642 and I just got promoted to Captain of the Hybrid Branch of the Science Department Guard Division. I came here as soon as I could to make sure you could be informed of the change. Besides, I had a few questions about the leader of the hybrid branch, Code 004."

"You're unusually nice and respectuous, for one of the grunts. Usually, they're just trampling on everything with their big boots and asking questions afterwards. They're very good at keeping the parasites in check, though...no offence, of course. So...what do you want to know about our charming green-horned lass?"

"I was wondering if you could tell me where she usually lives. I may have to report to her quite often, so it would make my work easier to know where to find her if...should any trouble arise."

Without paying attention to the unusual tone of the captain, who seemed to have difficulties, despite his utmost deference, to explicit his problem, Werner answered truthfully. After all, guards were not supposed to be under his supervision...and as such, he had very little consideration for them. That was reciprocal, honestly. Fucking grunts.

"Room Sector 33004, the grey door. She also has a red thing following her around when she's at home, don't be afraid of it. It's just another hybrid, a former test subject."

"A former test subject, sir?"

"Yeah, Code 002. Not exactly the brightest bulb in the lamp factory, but very resilient. Probably the best hybrid I ever had for testing purposes. Alas, not something 004 liked. Fucking wench, stealing my experiment subjects away..."

He was still ranting when the guard left the room, closing the door behind him. Behind the full facial mask, a strange, outerworldly light appeared in the eyes of the 'Captain'. The power mutating inside his body and soul was hungry, hungry for more. But more than hunger, there was a need growing. The need to annihilate potential threats, creatures whose existence would be a tear in the frail tapestry of fate _She_ was silently weaving, like a spider at the center of her web.

The hunt, once again, could begin.

However, just like the old doctor did not see his 'guest' get out of his office and leave to accomplish his inevitable destiny, this intruder did not see what the old pervert in a lab coat, probably naked under all his clothes, starting to scribble, with his near unreadable writing, a few words under the _Goals_ section of a thick file.

 _Goal number 7 : Hunt sexual deviants among the parasites, purge the ones who would want to reproduce – reproduction is a sin against Papa, turning away the righteous parasites from the path of glory APE has laid for them to see. Glory to Papa, glory to APE, glory to the devoted ones._

Happy with his formulation, he whispered to himself :

"One day, kids. One day, when I won't have the strength to send all these idiots to die, you will be there to do it for me. And unlike me, you won't have these old feelings resurfacing from time to time. Unlike me, you will be _perfect_."

* * *

 _Are we there yet?_

"That's the sixth time you asked this question. And once again, no, we're not there yet. We still have around half an hour before we get to the Garden. Though we're in the dangerous zone, I guess. The Garden has seldom been attacked by klaxxosaurs, but there's still a myriad of pilots here to defend it if needed. After all, this place is where the future of mankind lies."

 _Hmf. There's nothing to be achieved in slaughtering children. There are rules I still respect, you know. This place reeks of childhood, and as such I refuse to attack it._

"Still, during my first sortie, I had to kill a few of them, that were coming towards the place. I don't know how much control you have on your troops, but it looks like some of them were not that concerned by your taboos." Noticing the angry gaze she threw at him, he continued "However, I guess that since they started carpet-bombing the palace, all bets are off and I can leave this place a smoldering ruin in case they decided to delete Honey's medical records."

 _ **Speaking of which, what is the plan here? Do we charge into battle like the heroes of yore? Do we destroy their place until they relent and flee before us? Do we kill every single one of them as a form of retribution for our fallen empire? Just say the word, master, and their "Garden" will burn to ashes under the flaming wind of our wrath!**_

"Well, the original idea was to get near the Garden, hide Gladiolus somewhere, break inside and sneak my way through the place until I get to the office of the head of the Science Department. Maybe kicking some ass to get until that point. But now that you're here too, Ohime, I had an idea to give you something to do."

 _Do you want me to stay hidden too? Because that's a 'no', even if you ask nicely. I'm not going to let my mate plunge into the enemy lair alone. That's why I came here._

"Actually, I wanted to give you something to do. I'm not sure about your abilities in the 'piloting a FranXX' department, but I guess that as a pure-blood royal klaxx, you're very good at it, right?"

The princess looked at him with eyes full of doubt, before steeling herself and answering, her voice trying to show as much resolve as possible as she spoke into his mind.

 _I can connect with Gladiolus and direct her alone on the battlefield, if that's what you're asking for. Honestly, you ningens are pretty...efficient when it comes to using corpses of our fallen brethren. I don't have much combat experience...only with you, to be fair...but I'm pretty sure the Daughter of Carnage will lend me her own._

 _ **We will march on the battlefield like the gods of war of our people, princess. By the Horn, I can see the annihilation of the ningen forces as clearly as I see you through the eyes of my dear master.**_

"Right, marching on the battlefield. Though, I will need you two for what's probably the most important part of my plan : getting their attention. That means presenting a credible threat to the Garden, but not an _overwhelming_ one, drawing their attention and drawing the fight as long as it's possible. Do you think you could do it?"

 _ **Slow the fighting to a long and painful slog for everyone involved? That's neither glorious nor interesting, but if it's for your sake, I will do it, master. Besides, that's probably a safer choice for you, princess, seeing as it is your first real sortie on the battlefield. Do not worry, we will make a warrior out of you.**_

Hiro smiled when he heard those words. Of course, that wasn't the first time today that his bloodthirsty partner and the princess' interactions hinted at them becoming closer. That was, as always, a good thing. The situation was already complex enough, he did not need his little blue lover and the engine of murder to be hating each other on top of the other problems he had. Speaking of them, he remembered one thing Ohime had told him about Gladiolus, something that had just crossed his mind. Seeing as he still had quite a bit of time left

"Just one question before we go on with our mission...You told me before we left that I had done something that you would need to explain... it had something to do with the weapon names, or something like that. Care to tell me what was the matter?"

 _It has to do with...some ancient warrior tradition, if I remember correctly. Giving the name of someone else's weapon to your own was...one of the highest forms of courtship you could think of, if not THE absolute highest. Hence my surprise._

"Oh."

 _ **It's also one of the most insulting moves if you're doing it with someone you're not hellbent on marrying and have a long, happy and bountiful life with them, and if they're not ready to accept it. The reasoning behind it being...basically..."Our weapons have the same name. Therefore, they are one – names are**_ **that** ** _powerful in our culture. If they are one, and we are two, we need to become one, one way or another ; and by "one way or another", it's either by ritual duel, to the death, of course – so that one of the two dies, and as such they become one – or by marriage._**

"Oh. Well, let me clarify this right now : I can promise you I never wanted to insult you, Gladiolus. As for the second part...we're kind of already one, right? You live in my mind, you feel what I feel, you can control my body...and remember, you told me once we were more closely bound than newlyweds. We're probably at the highest level of union two living beings can reach without _truly_ becoming one."

Hiro stopped for a second, noticing the silence of his two klaxxo partners. Clearing his throat, he started speaking again, slowly.

"I know that I haven't been aware of this bond and of what he implied for long...even though I consented to this, I did it mostly to save Honey. I'm afraid I won't be able to marry you, not in this state. At least, not the conventional wedding Honey told me about...Though, I promise you I'd do it if it was feasible. However, I think that...seeing as we're linked this way, our weapon could be named as such. So, once again, I'm asking you, Gladiolus...do you consent to have our weapon...this weapon that you choose for me, by the way...called the Crimson Lotus?"

She did not answer, or at the very least her mental answer wasn't coherent enough. There was no distinct words, no clear sentence, in what she was trying to convey. There was only tears and sobbing and squeeing, but tears and sobbing and squeeing that expressed an intense, overwhelming joy. Like a blind, homeless orphaned girl suddenly cured of her blindness by a handsome prince wanting to marry her – which, let's admit it, was not _that_ far from the truth _._ She continued for a few minutes, unable to respond. Meanwhile, Hiro looked at Ohime, who was once again blushing.

"Looks like she needs a bit of time to answer..."

 _She needs a bit of time to say it, at the very least. Looks like you like your wives quite... emotional. Also, you're lucky that...Nevermind, I will tell you later. There's still a lot you need to learn about our race, little prince._

"Well, that's fine by me, she'll say it when she's ready to speak her mind. That's not like I'm going somewhere without her...Speaking of which, the Garden is in sight."

Hiro, once again, was telling the truth. Out there, around a dozen or so miles away, stood the massive structure of the Garden of APE, probably the biggest human structure of the continent, dwarfing even the mighty plantations. Even from there, they could distinguish the large barracks around it, made to shelter the dozens of FranXX squads guarding the place and protecting it against klaxxosaurs. The former stamen had a slight smile when he thought about the coming fight. _Let them try to protect the Garden against ME._

"Alright. In a few minutes, I'm going to ground. You'll have to draw their attention away from me, until I get what we're here for. Unless it's impossible to find it, in which case we're razing this place to the ground too. Gladiolus, do you think you could make sure to transmit information between the three of us?"

 _ **As...**_ **snif...** ** _As long as the princess stays in here, I sure can._**

 _I don't want to rain on your parade, little prince, but I think we're going to fight earlier than expected. There are enemies ahead, and I don't think they will let us pass without a fight._

She was telling the truth, once again. It was time to battle. In front of them, coming from the south in the morning light, were a squad of parasites, four FranXX with the standard magma spears that most of the classic models carried on the battlefield. In theory, squads were supposed to count five robots and ten parasites, but they probably had previous losses. They still had a minute or so before they reached them, which let them a bit of time to prepare. For a few seconds, Hiro pondered : he could have been one of them, had Honey not changed forever his destiny. He could have been in a normal FranXX too, he could have been paired with the dreadful Naomi and her good-for-nothing connection numbers. And today, he could have died a horrible death against a monstrous humanoid klaxxosaur, looking _way too much_ like a FranXX, wielding a massive cleaver and a canon ready to rain death upon them. Really made him think...until he remembered how much of a drastic pain in the ass these parasites had been even then. There had been a choice to make – and, mankind be damned, he had chosen the path of Honey, Ohime and Gladiolus. Probably the best thing he had ever done. So, while he felt a bit sorry for those guys, it was a goddamn war, and by the Horn – as Ohime would say – there was no way in hell or heaven that he'd lose to these hairless apes. Not as he was connecting to the mighty Gladiolus and partnering with the Princess of Klaxxosaurs herself. Rather than just having them come to him, he decided to engage them, activating every single thruster of Gladiolus to launch the massive frame of the Klaxxofranxx – the best term he could think of to describe his dear bride – towards the squad. He heard Ohime yelp at the sudden acceleration of their ride, whose enormous blade was pointed at the enemy like the monstrous head of a monstrous arrow. It took them only a few seconds to reach the squad, and, unluckily for the ningen pilots, they had neither the quickness nor the training to evade the blow.

 _That makes one._

Needless to say, there wasn't really something to salvage from the mass-produced FranXX that had taken the brunt of the impact, now reduced to a pile of flaming, derelict scrap. The parasite pairing inside probably did not suffer much in the explosion – such an instant, brutal death on the battlefield was sure to give them a direct pass to the heaven where Papa kept his best parasites. As he took a few seconds to assess the situation, he felt the blooming, bloodthirsty joy of the spirit inside the machine : her master was hunting and killing with her – what a wonderful day! Four of them now, a normal response team, and the holographic plates that their FranXX used as faces showed only a stunned terror, far above and beyond what Hiro could have expected from them. After all, he could not see what they had seen at this moment ; when he had taken his rightful place inside Gladiolus as her stamen, she still was in her gold-and-teal dragon form, the _stampede mode_ whose activation had been the first step on the road that had led him here, the one in which he had been found by Ohime when she had unwrapped her _bad dragon_ package. Now, a dragon-like klaxxosaur? That would have been very bad news for the squad. But now...Gladiolus was neither beast nor dragon, but the incarnation of a murderous fury. She was the weapon, one of the weapons, her dear master would use to reclaim what was rightfully his own. Moreover, connected to the princess, a part of her royal power was coursing through her dead-and-rebuilt body, which manifested as crackling, sapphire energy around the FranXX.

On the head of Gladiolus, where a faceplate showing her expressions should have been, was the face of a monstrous beast, an ogre of ancient tales with a monstrous jaw, here to devour and destroy. Probably her war face, and nothing to do with the klaxxo she had been aeons ago. Her plating was now of the same black and blue color as the klaxxosaurs that were now by their side – well, not at the moment, but still – with some gold here and there ; and these colors were probably the biggest clue, for the enemy parasites, that this creature would not have been on their side even if they had not already lost a robot, and two partners, to her and her inhuman pilots. With a monstrous shriek, readying her ginormous meat cleaver, Gladiolus leaped on her second target, banking on the residual surprise of the initial impact to get another kill quickly. However, the pilots had recovered from seeing their comrades brutally disemboweled and annihilated, and stepped aside, dodging the blow at the last possible second, before striking back in a violent riposte towards the unprotected flanks of the beast. Or at least, _trying_ to strike back in a violent riposte, seeing as Gladiolus' left arm, still sporting claws of brilliant brass, deflected the blow, grasping the spear in these and crushing it...before yanking it towards herself. One of the most interesting points about the weaponry most FranXX were using was the fact that they were, in a way, part of the robot itself. There was no way to disarm most of them without...well... _dis-arming_ them. This point had been one of the first request of the military officers that had overseen the FranXX project at its beginning : a disarmed soldier, on the battlefield, was no threat to the klaxxosaurs. Besides, with magma weaponry needing to be connected to the piloting pair to ignite, that demand also had some kind of scientific basis. However, as Gladiolus' prey was about to find out, that meant that there was no way for a FranXX whose weapon had been grappled to escape this grasp. The Daughter of Carnage delayed her action for about half a second, letting the cold claws of fear settle in the heart of her quarry, before she pulled out with a titan-like strength, ripping the arm away from the robot entirely in an horrible tearing sound. Right afterwards, adding salt to the wound and insult to the injury, Gladiolus threw the arm back into her victim's face, smashing the faceplate and sending the damaged FranXX to the ground. Her beast smile grew wider as she roared in triumph over the fallen enemy. One moment later, her mighty cleaver finished the job, cleaving cleanly indeed the robot in two separate parts : a left one, and a right one.

 _That makes two._

"Why are you counting, Ohime?" Hiro asked, a bit surprised both by his partner's act and to see the biomechanical titan he was piloting so eager in her quest for blood and slaughter. Sure, he was the one piloting Gladiolus in the first place, but she was clearly going above and beyond his expectations, acting and reacting at the speed of thought.

 _I'm just trying to keep count of the foes we vainquish, little prince. Every single one you dispatch with fury and violence is one of my brethren rightfully avenged, maybe more._

"If you say so, if you say so...I'll keep a count myself about the ones I'll dispatch once inside the Garden. For now...let's just see if we can intercept their communications before they're all dead, we may learn something." Hiro tried to get the reception working and, his usual luck helping, managed to pick up some comms.

** This is Code 345, from the 7th Garden Squad. We found a very big one – probably a Balaur-class or, Papa forbid, something even more powerful. Send more units, and do it fast! Already two pairings down. One pairing was nowhere to be found. Code 345, Over. **

 _ **You were sadly right, you little worm. I AM SOMETHING EVEN MORE POWERFUL THAN YOUR PITIFUL CLASSES, AND IN THE NAME OF MY MASTER YOUR BLOOD AND GUTS WILL BE SPILLED ON THE SNOW TODAY!**_

There was a flash of movement as, faster than lightning made material, Gladiolus plunged upon the closest of the two remaining FranXX and, once again, grappled it with her claws, this time reaching for the leg. This time, the intention was not to rip and tear...yet, but rather to restrain and control. The enemy, of course, activated its thrusters : one big mistake, though not as big as the void between the constellations in the skymaps of the klaxxo empire – their push just gave Hiro the occasion to send it flying towards the other one, crushing one with the other. At this point, the fight was over, though the stamen, to make sure of it, crushed definitively their hopes, dreams and bodies in a swift move.

 _The hell is a Balaur-class?_

"Well, mankind has found many names and designations for the different kind of klaxxosaurs. Honestly, beyond the Conrad, Mohorovic and Super-Lehmann classes, most of them are one-time things. I don't really know what they meant by the Balaur class." Hiro's explanation, however, was cut short by the indignant roar of Gladiolus.

 _ **PROBABLY SOME MIGHTY AND POWERFUL MONSTER OF THEIR LEGENDS AND PATHETIC MYTHOS...SEND MORE OF THESE RATS, PUNY MANKIND! IN THE NAME OF MY MASTER WHOSE BLADE CRUSHES THE WEAK, I SHALL DESTROY EVERYTHING YOU HOLD DEAR! BLOOD FOR MY MASTER, FIRE FOR THE PYRES OF YOUR CORPSES!**_

"...Anyway, I'm just wondering why this squad was not at full force. Usually, they only go by squads of five, and we only engaged four of them. Not that I'm unhappy with it, it's just that it's quite strange to me."

 _They probably had some problems with the last one. After all, they may not have been there just for us._

"Maybe. Anyway, now they know that we're here...Drop me not too far from the Garden, be threatening enough for them to come at you, slaughter a few of them, and we're set. Anything to say before I go?"

 _ **Don't forget your weapons.**_

 _Don't die._

 _ **Kill a lot of ningens.**_

 _I love you._

 _ **WE love you.**_

* * *

"WE love you, huh?"

 _ **Shut up master. I had to out-brag her..."Fufufu I love you little prince...". Well, tough luck for you, little princess, I get to stay with HIM and protect him against these pitiful ningens...**_

Hiro silently shook his head. It really looked like some of the old rivalry between the sheltered princess and the hardened general was still there, after all. He just hoped this would not be detrimental to their mission, as he started to advance towards the Garden. There was at least half a mile of snowy ground until then, so he started running, the Mailman in his holster and the Crimson Lotus on his back. He was afraid, anxious, unsure of what he would find inside of the old fortress of mankind. And yet, in a way, he had probably never felt so alive. Well, his first time with Honey...and with Ohime, of course. These had been times when he had _really_ felt alive too. But now, he was about to go on a glorious quest to save a fair maiden, _his_ fair maiden! Any red-blooded male would have said blood running wild during such an adventure. He was around a hundred yards away from the place when he saw another squad, a full one this time, leaving the closest hangar with a clamor rivaling the thunder of a summer storm. Hidden as he was under the trees, they passed over him without ever noticing his presence, and, of course, the door towards the inside of the Garden was now opened. Whoever designed this kind of security deserved to be shot, honestly, because anybody could enter, now. Even though, to be fair, the place had never _yet_ been attacked by klaxxosaurs, and those were seen by mankind as mere beasts, although very powerful and very resilient ones. But still.

 _ **Don't worry about shooting people, dear. You'll have a lot of that when we will be inside.**_

"So, we went from 'dear master', to 'we love you', to 'dear' in the span of a day?"

 _ **What did you expect after asking for my hand in marriage?**_

"Fair point, even though I don't really know how this is going to turn out. I'm already at three different partners right now." Hiro, slowly getting closer to the opening, was only whispering under his breath, but that was clearly enough for the presence inside his head. One day, merely thinking would probably be enough for their conversations. Same for Ohime.

 _ **Kind of lame to be honest, master dearest. At the height of our power, males were expected to have**_ **at least** ** _half_** ** _a dozen partners_** **.** ** _And the ones with royal blood...One of our rulers once married seven hundreds and seventy-seven girls the day he seized power. Nine months after this day, he already had eight hundred kids running around the palace. Hence his title of "Almighty Tail". However, I'm pretty sure you're going to beat him at this game, master._**

"...What the hell, Gladiolus..."

 _ **I'm just teasing you, dear...this king was only part of our old myths. Our race had...kind of a male shortage in the last centuries, a few generations before my time. That's what happens when most of your society decides to engineer itself to lessen the proportion of males amongst the births after a war that already wiped out eighty percent of them.**_

"I already said it, but I'll say it again : what the hell?" Hiro had stopped progressing towards the entrance now, as always intrigued by the revelations of his wife. His current position was a good one anyway.

 _ **Yeah, stuff about the 'violence of our male counterpart'. Bullshit, as always. The result was immediate : one generation later, one birth out of a hundred eggs was a boy. Two generations later, males were becoming a living symbol of luck, power, success, and harems began to form.**_

"I have more questions than you could probably answer now without compromising the entirety of the mission..." whispered Hiro, now totally lost in Gladiolus' explanations. No guard near the entrance ; he bolted directly towards it, hoping that the fine snow that had started falling would help cover his tracks.

 _ **That's because of the 'eggs' part? Don't worry, love, you'll get the whole biology course as soon as we'll have your other wife saved. We will make it as...**_ **interesting** ** _as possible, I can promise you that._**

Without listening to her sultry tone and without trying to envision the multiple things she could have been insinuating with her words, Hiro entered the Garden, as sneakily as he could. His smile widened when he recognized the place : that hangar had been the one where Gladiolus had been in storage during his first sortie with Honey...which meant that from here he knew exactly how to get to _Hakase_ 's office, and from then...

"Holy hell...does that mean..."

 _ **Is there something wrong, master?**_

"Another hybrid. One like Honey, I just remembered. The one I tried to save before we escaped...it still might be..." Hiro's stream of consciousness was however interrupted by a rough stranger's voice – one that, moreover, did not seem especially friendly towards him.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

 _ **Don't worry master. I am here. This will be fun...**_

* * *

That could have been a nice morning for Mayon. Nothing had been scheduled yet, so she could have spent the day practicing knife-throwing – just in case 003 decided to be a creep again – and trying to teach the little red gremlin how to talk, read and write. After all, all hybrids were...fast learners, to say the least. In a few weeks, she could have been a good enough reader to understand that her caretaker's tales did not find their origin in her picture books. After a few months, she could be the one writing her own fairy tales and reading them to 004. Alas, even if most of her night had been quiet and nice, 02 sleeping soundly and hugging her tight, her slumber was interrupted by the horrid sound of an alarm, and the subsequent screeching of 02, who mistook it for an intrusion into their room.

"Alright, little devil, calm down...just let me see what the problem is...Fuck, an _important communication_ from 003." Mayon patted her charge's head a few times to try and appease her, and calm herself. All of the communication devices they had, courtesy of the APE science department, were able to emit alarms of this sort in dire situations – what was and wasn't a _dire situation_ was determined by a very strict set of rules, and the parasites or staff members daring to break them were in for a... _dire_ wake-up call (heh) from their higher-ups. In that case, 003 – or, as the little bastard liked to call himself now, _Reiza_ – needed to have a very good reason, or she would make sure to tear him a new hole, probably literally.

"Fuuck? Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck?" 02 seemed both delighted and intrigued by the word, and her pronunciation was clearly more joyful and less venomous than Mayon's. For a second, her caretaker was about to frown at her for her use of such a word, but to be fair, the little one was not aware about its meaning. Also, it was quite fitting to the situation, so she just brushed aside a strand of pink hair, before whispering to her :

"Yes, little one. _Fuck_ him...Alright, you idiot, what do you want? Another knife in your flesh?" she asked loudly, picking up the comms. She could hear the scorn in Reiza's voice when he answered her :

" _Don't be so rude, Code 004. The Garden is under attack. A Balaur-class, maybe more. It already killed a squad, so it's a worthy challenge for us. And a way to see if we're truly_ that _able to connect together against a greater foe – not some puny lesser classes like before._ "

"Impossible. Balaur-classes are one in a fucking million. And all of those who have been sighted were around the equator circle. I swear to Papa, if this is another fucking joke..."

" _The destroyed squad sent a small video about the beast. I just saw it – I probably wouldn't be bothering you if that wasn't such an urgent matter._ " A little ping shined on the device, letting her know that the video he had just mentioned were available to her too. With a sigh, she opened it, before freezing at the mere sight of this monstrous creature that it featured. As much as she loathed to admit it in front of 003, he... _sort of_... had been right to wake her up. This weapon, these colors, these claws...there was something in the way this biomechanical titan was armed that reminded her of the files she was supposed to oversee as the head of the Hybrid Program. Something about the latest projects of Dr. FranXX...She spoke again, this time with less antipathy and more genuine fear :

"Code 003, meeting at the upper archives in six minutes. There's something we need to check before we charge into battle like idiots."

" _I was about to propose we go there quickly and...are you telling me I am the idiot here?_ "

"I am. Six minutes. Upper archives." Mayon cut the communication after these last words, before looking back at 02, who still had an interrogative look on her face. She did not know what was happening and had not recognized 003's voice, and that was probably for the better. She patted her little red monster's head, before dressing up quickly, donning her elite pistil uniform, including the headband she had asked for, a year ago, for Papa's day. Something needed to be verified – something she could not totally put words on, a vague foreboding that something greater than herself, than all of them was at work here. She was still a bit sleepy, but nothing that a can of energy drink couldn't fix at the moment – fortunately, her fridge right now was nothing but energy drinks and burgers. She grabbed a can, cracked it open, took a sip, and took out one of the sandwiches...then a second one, putting this one on the table for her little guest, who was now trying to get back to sleep. After all, better have something ready for her when she would wake up again – just in case Mayon would not be here then. She would be back, of course. She would not let her alone. As she got out of the room, she did not see the big green eyes of 02 open wide and witness her departure.

Four minutes later, she was in front of the upper archives, her food and drink quickly devoured, as she saw 003 coming in, full of haughty scorn. Probably due to the urgency of the situation, he had neither his swords nor his cloak, and as a result looked a lot more... harmless than usual, even if his attitude was the same as always. In a way, she was glad he was stuck in his mood full of disgust and contempt – had he tried to be nice, smiling and gentlemanly, she probably would have had a much harder time hating him. He was making it really easy, in a way. Sighing loudly, he asked, trying to be as cordial as possible :

"Alright partner. What are we doing here and, more importantly, how will it help us getting rid of this thing out there?"

"We are here to check something about the archives of the Parasite Project, especially about the origin of the FranXX we use in battle. I'm pretty sure there's something _very_ wrong here...Though I don't really understand what."

"What? You don't know about the origin of the FranXX? I thought every higher-up was in the know about the fact that they're made from dead klaxxosaurs..." Reiza commented, the surprise on his face nearly managing to erase the scorn.

"I'm not talking about that, you dunce. I'm talking about the _specific_ type of klaxxosaurs used in the creation of some FranXX. To my understanding, some of the special ones were used from very powerful klaxxos, and I want to check something about it." She answered, her fingerprints and access codes allowing her to open the door, leading to a dark room ; inside, seats, a massive console and a screen. Perfect for project APE propaganda movies... or to show everyone military intel, which was closer to what they were doing here. While Mayon was trying to get it to work, 003 was trying to seat himself comfortably in one of the biggest, comfiest seats, diddling his thumbs while his partner was doing all the work, as always. Less than a minute later, the screen grew brighter, displaying in big glowing letters :

 _Special Units in the Parasite Program – Crushing the Klaxxosaurs without survivors._

 _Slides by Werner FranXX, head of the Science Department._

 _Argentea, Chlorophytum, Delphinium, Genista_...nearly a dozen presentations, complete with designs, explanations, diagrams, pictures. Each of them was trying to sell the main strengths of the different robots, while presenting their possible weaknesses and how to minimize them. Some of these, like Urtica, which 003 saluted with a smug smile, were finished, and the slideshow could present their results. Some others, with names like _Apollon_ , _Strelizia_ , _Sekhmet_ or _Dagon_ , were still theoretical creations, whose main concepts still needed to be field-tested. Every time where the information was relevant, one of the slides was dedicated to the beast whose corpse had been reforged and remade into a weapon of war and destruction.

"Heh. I did not know that Urtica was coming from _one_ Balaur-class monster. A magnificent beast indeed." 003 commented, trying to lighten the mood – however, Mayon had no interest in his little quips, feeling more and more that she was wasting her time. Every FranXX, every slain klaxxosaur, was different from the half-remembered memory haunting her. There had to be something here. She could not afford to be wrong in front of her partner, which was once again making snarky comments.

"Oh, well, looks like your little endeavour served no purpose. Now let's go – there's something to kill before another squad gets destroyed" He suddenly stopped when both of their comms rang, announcing yet _another_ urgent message. "Too late, five other idiots got killed. At the very least, now we have another video and..."

He did not answer. Neither did Mayon. After all, both of them had their answers already.

The video depicting the draconic form of their enemy was the only thing 003 needed, and, to his pistil, the name on the last slide of the presentation confirmed it...

 _Gladiolus_

* * *

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Without missing a beat, Hiro answered, noticing a dozen APE guards around him, all of them heavily armed :

"Code 016, Special Specimen. I was supposed to meet with Hakase about some important mission...any clues about where to find him?"

Being brazen and bluffing his way through the Garden could have been a good idea. However, Hiro was not totally aware of the trouble he had caused among the higher-ups of the place, even among the higher-ups of APE. He did not know that he had been declared an enemy of Papa and of his united mankind, something that had never happened to a mortal in decades. Every single parasite, guard, adult, scientist : all of them were supposed to know him and recognize him, all of them were supposed to hate him and bring him, dead or alive, before the throne of their leaders. Right now, this fame was exactly playing against him and against his plan, as the guards readied their weapons hearing his words. He sighed and continued, unfazed by the sudden realization that his attempt had failed :

"Oh well, can't succeed every time. Gladiolus, could you please...?"

 _ **Everything for you, dear.**_

"Who are you talking to, traitor?" Both the position and the tone of the guard implied that the answer, if there ever was an answer, would pretty much be the last coherent words of the rebel, the following ones being screams of pain and cries of agony. Alas for the armed agent of Papa, the answer he got was...a lot more gory than expected.

That was the third time Hiro was tasting the power of his wife – and the second time did not count seeing as it was just a bit of showing off her skills on her end. Just like during his duel against Ohime, he felt the cold feeling of her power invading his flesh and bones, purging weakness and clemency in its frozen wake. Stronger than fate, faster than pain. There was only ice now, as even time stood petrified in the tidal wave of violence to come. The Crimson Lotus, their shared weapon, seemed to jump in their hands, as ready to kill as they were. The limits between Gladiolus, Hiro, and the world around them, were blurrying now in a blasphemy made material, a living whirlwind of killing intent.

 _ **Fear us, ningens. For we are your apocalypse.**_

Five were killed, their limbs and organs shredded or crushed with utmost violence, before the first shot – which was dodged easily : for which ningen weapon could hope to stand a chance against the Daughter of Carnage and her husband? The mighty glaive was everywhere at once, easily cutting through the bodies, as armored as they were, before jumping on another prey and mauling her without any kind of mercy. The blurry, blood-stained form was not a stamen, not even the _image of a stamen_ anymore. Just an incarnation of death, multiplying death blows, like messiahs and prophets of yore could multiply bread and wine for their cultists. The seven remaining guards were dead before the first dead body, cleanly cleaved in two, had hit the ground. The place was now a temple of death, a shrine to the bloodshed, an altar of slaughter where the weak had beeen purged and where the strong had vainquished. And, in its center, the silhouette of the ravenous monster that was the cause of all of this – covered in blood and guts, scarlet and rapturous, Hiro and his wife were united in their exaltation.

 _ **You were right to fear us, ningens. For we were your apocalypse.**_

Hiro came back to his senses, standing in the middle of the slain corpses – people who would never again walk the earth, serve APE or order a burger at Papa's Kitchen. With the retreat of Gladiolus from his body, the ecstatic feeling of their union, the orgasmic feeling of shared victory left him almost as fast, lingering only for mere seconds before fading away in the void. Every part of reality that had been kept away from him during this second and a half of mindless murder was now coming back. Including the smell, which was nearly enough to make him retch on the warm bodies. He got away as swiftly as he could to regain his composure, trying to voice his feelings clearly in that weird post-murder refractory period :

"That...that was..."

 _ **That was outstanding, dear master. Now let's get back there and get every single of their heads in a bag – just so we have something to brag about to the little princess. Also, you need a proper drinking cup.**_

"I am NOT going to get back there, especially NOT to cut heads off, do you hear me?"

 _ **Alright, just get one of the heads you already cut off. Then, when we will be back, we will peel it and plate the skull in gold and silver...**_

"No, we're not. Let's just...find a place to wash ourselves of this blood quickly, and hope there were no cameras in this place." As he looked around, the place seemed devoid from other human activities for now, a fact that was both strange and interesting – at the very least, more than the presence, in the hallway towards the archives and living places of the higher-ups, of a bathroom, a nice relief in this place. Hiro, after blocking the door, took a few minutes to clean himself, thanking silently his luck and the marvels of klaxxo technology that his black and blue suit was so easily cleaned. He chuckled for a few seconds when, cleaned from blood and innards, he saw himself in the mirror...something he had never done since the times he had left the Garden as a rebel. The dark hair, he remembered, but the features on his face seemed a bit...harder, sterner. Besides, he was pretty sure his eyes were neither _that_ shiny nor _that_ blue. Right now, they looked like little orbs of cold fire, the same cold fire that had been coursing through his veins a bit earlier. He did not know what had happened to him, but he was pretty sure that was the result of Honey, Ohime, Gladiolus – the biggest contender for now seeing as he had liberally used her powers a few minutes ago – or all of them. How? That was the big question.

Suddenly, a shadow passed behind him in the mirror, making him turn around in a hurry. Nothing. Probably something he had imagined, because of the mere shock of the earlier carnage. Then, looking back at the mirror, he nearly screamed at the sight.

At his side in the reflection, stood another silhouette. A cute smile full of sharp white teeth in a light blue face, two _massive_ blue horns, a blue tail covered in brass rings. Two eyes without pupils, looking like they were lakes of liquid gold, the same color as the hair flowing down her back to her tiny waist. Brass markings mirroring an armor over a body which, while taller and more muscular than Ohime's, was still delightfully lithe and slender, just like the nimble blue and gold tail wiggling behind her like a rattlesnake's. She wasn't bearing any weapon – she wasn't needing one.

 _ **You seem surprised to see me, dear. Don't worry, I think it's only a little byproduct of our recent... tryst.**_

"...Alright, I'm going to need a bit of explaining. Or _a lot_ of it." Hiro whispered, as this new vision came to lean on his own reflection in the mirror. Still stupefied by what he supposed was an hallucination, he unconsciously closed his arms around her – but where his arms, in the real world, found only his own body, they hugged tightly Gladiolus' nimble frame in the mirrored universe, earning a cute sigh and a smile that gleamed harder than the sun's beams.

How did that even work? Well, in doubt – hallucinations.

 _ **Alright, I'll answer your question as soon as you answer mine... Do you like what you see, master? Do you feel the same longing, the same...hunger when you see me, that you feel when you see the others that you loved? Do the body of your blood bride rouse in you the same yearnings than the princess or your old partner?**_

"The only thing I'm feeling now is old-fashioned jealousy, because my reflection seems to have a lot more fun than I have. But don't worry," he quickly added, seeing her image in the mirror frown a bit, "You're perfect...and _a lot_ more attractive than the sea of shadows you were when I first met you." Blowing a kiss at her blushing reflection, he grabbed his weapons and got out, ready to continue towards the upper archives.

 _ **Flatterer. To answer your query, having us on the battlefield like this, united as one, has given me a newfound strength. We're closer now than ever before, can't you feel? These...reflections are only the medium by which your soul and mine connect together again, however small may that contact be.**_

"...Is that one of the reasons you're so adamant in wanting us to slaughter people together? To have us be closer to each other?" He asked, entering an elevator towards the heart of the science Department.

 _ **...Maybe.**_

* * *

 _Twelve guards in two seconds. Now_ that _is impressive._

 _ **Meh, that was nothing, really. He did not want to keep the skulls – I think he's waiting for some truly impressive enemy, even his own Papa, for this.**_

 _He told you this?_

 _ **No. Our prince is too shy for such matters. You should have seen him when he came down the battle trance. About to puke, like a newborn on the battlefield. Not really royal behavior, and yet...I think, deep down, he likes it. Anyway, looks like meat is back on the menu, princess.**_

 _They are five, Daughter of Carnage._

 _ **And?**_

 _Hiro is not here to pilot you. So we're at a disadvantage against those pesky ningens._

 _ **You're right, I'm the one piloting him out there. With a bit of luck, he will find another group of mortals to kill. Every drop of blood he sheds make me more...alright, let's kill them.**_

 _Are you...breathing fire on his one?_

 _ **It was a foe. First mistake. It came too close. Second mistake. It had no heat protection. Third mistake – nice try, let's hope you'll reincarnate in something less stupid.**_

 _Huh. I did not know the Raised-Dead were so vulnerable to fire._

 _ **Everything is vulnerable to fire once you get hot enough...And if my dear master think I am, who am I to object? What an angel.**_

 _He told you what?_

 _ **Something that I already knew. Heh, look at this.**_

 _Are you ripping its arms off instead of mercy-killing it in fire and flames? Why are you..._

 _ **I'm just making sure it's 'armless' by 'dis-arming' it. Armless. Disarming. Understood?**_

 _That's a bad joke. Besides, jokes should not dictate the ebb and flow of the battlefield._

 _ **You call**_ **that** ** _a battlefield? I'm pretty sure painting my nails would be more of a challenge than these flies._**

 _I don't remember you painting your nails back in the old days._

 _ **'Painting' is a bit of a stretch. You know, having to rip and tear with your bare hands is not**_ **that** ** _bad for the manicure. You should do it once in a while – does wonder for stress relief. Just watch!_**

 _Well, right now, it's not as much 'nail painting' as it is 'giving the hull a new paintjob'. Besides, this was a tail blow, this form has no hands nor claws. And, last but not least, I have someone to paint my nails for me. I'm pretty sure he'll agree._

 _ **Meh. Let him paint them, I'll paint**_ **him** ** _red with blood and gore, if you catch my drift. Look at this._**

 _Congratulations, you just shattered two ningens in one blow, and crippled another of their Raised-Deads. Is that supposed to be a feat of strength worthy of victory songs?_

 _ **You're the one talking about it being a 'true battle' and us 'being at a disadvantage' against those parasites. Anyway, the fight is over, but we have to still be threatening, to quote our lovely master.**_

 _He's not 'my' master...Just burn the forest or something, I don't know. You're the one supposed to be the dreadful and merciless war-beast, not me._

 _ **...Before this little trek ends, I'm going to tell my husband to tie you to the bed and spank you with a bunch of nettles if you continue being such a brat. He'll like it, I'm sure... and I'm pretty sure you'd like it too, ain't I right?**_

 _When this adventure ends,_ I _am going to tie_ him _to the bed, so he won't be out there to kill ningens and...are you going to burn_ all _of the forest around, or are you going to stop once the whole continent is alight?_

 _ **Shut up and be pretty, my master likes you more this way.**_

 _Peasant._

 _ **Courtesan.**_

* * *

It only took seconds to the little red hybrid to get out of the bed, ready to explore, after Mayon had left her here. She had heard the voice of 003, so the situation could only be a very dangerous one. He was the Black Knight, after all, the monster with a human face that her sister had told her about. The one that had _hurt_ 004\. The one that _hated_ Hiro. A bad man, an evil man. She had to be there, to make sure his nefarious plans would be thwarted again. As quickly as she could, she put on the clothes Mayon had brought her, as well as the meal she had left at her attention on the table, for _when she would woke up_. Well, she had been right, in a way : 02 had just woken up, and, in her little-but-quickly-growing-now-that-she-wasn't-tortured-daily-anymore mind, she knew she would need energy for the challenges to come, devouring the burger in one bite, swallowing it whole like a snake swallows a mouse. The powerful aroma of spicy cheese, tasty bacon and fried onions was a memory she would carry with her until the grave, forever associated with freedom, freedom from pain and hunger, from hate and loneliness. Maybe this one wouldn't enough? Just to be sure, she opened the fridge, to find more and more of these delicious treasures stored here by the elite pistil. She was sure her friend and caretaker would not mind if she took another one with her. After all, she brought them for her, right?

A few seconds later, she was out of the room. Mayon, going to the upper archives to check upon something, had not locked the door. That was the first time the little red gremlin was out by herself in the hallways of the Garden, and not monitored by a guard or an old perverted scientist. She nearly lost all focus when she saw the huge window and the world outside, which seemed to be out of a fairy tale of the solstice – even though the solstice had been a long time ago. Out there, there was snow, and smoke, and fire in the trees, and a strange, blurry, winged creature roaring in the skies, spitting her flames and her disgust upon the land and the forest. 02 stood there for nearly a minute before suddenly remembering about Mayon and her own self-assigned _mission_. She needed to protect her, after all. Finding her would not be that hard – the little hybrid's sense of smell could track the pistil in the cold, lifeless hallways of the garden without any trouble, just like she would have followed shiny arrows showing her the directions towards her goal.

However, her first problem was met when she discovered the elevator, leading towards the upper spires of the Garden. She had no idea how to open the metal door, and was about to scratch and claw it with her own pointy nails when it suddenly opened, letting two people, probably mid-ranking scientists, get out of there towards their destination. Fortunately, she managed to hide at the last moment, letting them continue their – probably very important – conversation.

"Yeah, so apparently the parasites are being deployed _en masse_. Some kind of big klaxxosaur is roaming the countryside, so..."

"Did the boss think about using his shiny new bombs to solve this problem? Or were they just a one-time-thing to show off to the Seven Sages?"

"Heard him and FranXY talk about it. Too close to the Garden to use them, so they're sending the Nettle to deal with the problem. He's a freak, but he can be useful sometimes."

"His current partner is a cutie, I've heard. One of the other hybrids, the green one."

"Yeah, saw some test results. The biggest pain resistance of the bunch, and that's saying something..."

They disappeared at the corner of the hallway quickly enough, letting the red gremlin enter the mystical metal box. The smell of Mayon was still there, letting her charge track her, down to the button she used. It took 02 a bit of jumping to reach it, but after a few seconds, she had it. She was startled when the metal box closed on her and started moving up, but it opened quickly enough on the upper spires. She managed to track 004 once again until a dark room, where a presentation was still open on a massive screen, showing three pictures. Both the first one, a draconic beast with scales of teal and gold, and the second one, who looked like a gigantic warrior wielding a long blade and dreadful claws, were of no interest to her. Neither was the fourth one : as much as the young, smiling, blue-haired and blue-horned woman was looking like Mayon, she wasn't Mayon. She may have been as nice and gentle as her, judging by her smile and eyes, but she was not the person that had brought her into the outside world, had fed her and clothed her.

But the third picture...the third picture was the picture of someone she knew. Someone she knew quite well, even though she only could spend a bit of time with him. His dark hair, his kind face, these big blue eyes full of compassion and understanding for the plight of the suffering ones...even the uniform was matching the one who had tried to save her and to take her outside of her cell. Her savior. Her prince. Her _Hiro._

Noise outside. Someone was coming. She was tiny, and she knew pain quite well – all the more reasons for her to hide, and hide well. When the door of the dark room opened, she was already hidden beneath a desk, trying to imagine a path to bolt out of the room and go back to her sanctuary if she was found. She had even stopped breathing, just to make sure they would not find her. She still had her sandwich – she would not abandon food, especially food _that_ great. She heard them enter.

...Wait...

...Was that...?

* * *

 _ **...And anyway, to sum it up, both horns and tails are indeed symbols of great potential among our kind if they're massive enough. They're a natural sign of prestige and success, much like a large brain or powerful genitals.**_

"Can't individuals without big horns and tails succeed?"

 _ **To put it bluntly – no. From my history class to the battlefield, well-endowed students and soldiers were leading the way in every field I've ever trod. They're more intelligent, much more charismatic, stronger, quicker, than the little ones.**_

"Not exactly a good sign for me..."

 _ **Nonsense, dear. You're still a ningen for now, that's true...but you're changing quickly enough. I've already told you that we were becoming closer, both in spirit and in form. The day grows nearer, where you'll be stronger and better than I am...and probably with bigger horns, too. What a glorious day this will be...**_

At the moment Hiro entered the dark room, he instantly felt that something was not right. There was something here, something he had not been supposed to see – but, to be fair, _everything_ in the Garden was now part of the things he was not supposed to see. Then, he saw the screen, and the pictures it was displaying. Him, Honey, and Gladiolus' two forms : the stampede mode of the FranXX, the terrifying fire-breathing monster, and the maiden form, bearing sword and clawed cannon. He closed the door, looking at the console and its commands.

"Well, Gladiolus, looks like we're coming closer to our goal."

 _ **Are you saying that because you have your lovely face on this screen?**_

"Maybe...I mean, if this screen can display what's supposed to be confidential intel...I guess, I mean that's not like everyone was supposed to know that I was...'an interesting asset to the Hybrid branch of the Parasite Program'...huh...or that I'm supposed to 'replace Code 003 to prove that fully human parasites can be better pilots than hybrids in some conditions'. You know what, Gladiolus, this stuff looks interesting."

 _ **Heh, as if ningens could be better than hybrids. No offense, love...you're not totally a ningen anymore, to be honest.**_

"That's alright. Now, let's just see how to get the medical files."

He was about to access the console, enter Honey's access codes – he had never received his own access codes during his time as a _Special Specimen_ , probably because of the eternal lethargy of this branch of APE – when something jumped on him. In the blink of an eye, he was ready to kill, his hand reaching reflexively his holster to get the Mailman, before he noticed that his assaulter was...not exactly what he had been thinking about. Of course, he recognized the uniform ; for years, he had exactly the same when he was just a stamen among the youths of the Garden. Of course, the one wearing it was no more of a normal parasite than himself was. His smile widened when he saw the red horns, the red skins, the big green eyes full of infatuation, the tiny body tightly hugging his leg.

"HIROOOOOOO!"

"02...now, for a surprise, that's a surprise.." he whispered, stooping to her level so the red gremlin could hug him normally instead of just grasping at his leg. "I missed you too, Zero Two."

 _ **Another hybrid in love with you, huh? This one looks younger, though – maybe a bit**_ **too** ** _young to make her one of your wives, don't you think?_**

"Don't be silly, Gladiolus." he answered, petting 02's head while the little hybrid, in the heavens of his arms, was making cute goblin noises to express her utmost pleasure. "I'm not going to marry her..."

"Awwi? Awwwi? Awwi!"

"Oh, right, that's true, I tried to teach you that word when I broke you out of jail..." he said, looking at her. She was clearly in a better state than the last time he had seen her, looked quite happy – and not only because of him – well-fed, clothed, and clean. A nice young little red gremlin, who looked a bit puzzled by Hiro's words.

 _ **So you**_ **did** _ **told her that you would marry her!**_

"Well, I kind of had to explain to her what marriage was."

During the whole exchange, 02 was looking more and more confused by Hiro's words, who, to her, seemed to be talking with someone else she could not see. At the edge of her consciousness, there was something, however, like a faint shadow outside of the world, something inhuman near her prince. Inhuman, maybe, but not wholly evil.

 _ **I think she somehow know I am here. With that bloodbath down below, I'm closer to you, but also to the world – and some can perceive my presence...I think I have an idea. Touch her horns.**_

"What?!"

 ** _I know that I've told you a few minutes ago that horns can be_** **very** ** _sensitive if they're handled the wrong way and that you need to be either a lover or a sworn enemy to touch a klaxxo's horns, whatever the reason. But I have an idea, seeing as she's an hybrid...also, she thinks you're going to marry her, so she won't have any problems with that. I think._**

"And why would I do that?"

 _ **Because you're still a feeble ningen and can't use telepathy**_ **yet** ** _, and because she's a child unable to talk. I'm just making sure that both of you can communicate without having to try and understand her grunts._**

That was the explanation Hiro needed. Without a word, he put his hands upon 02's horns, grabbing them lightly. He smiled when he saw her tense a bit and try to mimick him, putting her own tiny red hands upon his brow. Then, he felt it. _Something_ was pulsating between the both of them, a constant flow of ideas, images, feelings and sensations. Above all, he felt her love, her obsession for him – though he was not the only person for whom she had this kind of feelings : there was also a green lady who, in her mind full of ideals and wonders, was her protector, the one that gave her the safety of her place, and food.

Hiro let her go at the moment the door flew off its hinges, the lock broken by the tremendous amount of force that had been applied to it. In the doorframe was standing one creature, one being – sure, it had the uniform of a normal APE guard, but neither the enormous mass of hard muscles nor the dark grey skin underneath his strained uniform and behind the mask were _normal_ , so to speak. Moreover, the voice that _it_ produced, far from the normal voice of a ningen or from the telepathy of the klaxxos, was

 _ **Ả͕̪͛t͙ l̠̚on̳̪̗ͪ͌̾g ̟͙͊̅la̰ͨsͭt͋ͦ͆ tĥ͙̦͓̎͐e̳̦̋̿ ͔̥̠̿͋ͫpr͔͉e̯͆y̬ͫ is̥̟̖͗̄ͮ ͕͕̄̂h̓̔̽ê̫rͬe.̯̱̯ͧ̀͐ ̻̱R̞̰e͈ͯj͌̇o͕͔̥̾̾̐ice,̥͇̀̄ ́́ͤl͕it̓t͗̚l̬͛e c̾ͫ̾r̬̗͒̓e̲̻̔̑aͣ̎ṫ̖̞ͭuṛͩe͈͖̗ͩͭͧs,̩͇͈̽̒̔ ͤa̲̍s̻̩̲ͥ͊͒ ̟͈̘i͉̰t ̦͖͉ͬͬ̋isͨ́ ͓̣fo̟̲̩̔̅̔r̔ͦ ̥h̠͖̼ͫ̽͊er tḧ͉̩̀̚ͅat͙ͬ ̥̱̱y͚̣̿̍ou̺̙͙͂̆ͧ ̪͖̋̊s͇̀hȁ͈̥͇ͮ̐l̟̖̠̆ͯ̈l ̝b͇̝e̥͕ͅ ͮ̀̀de͖͎͐̈s̭̬ͫ̃tͣr̼̆o̫̚y͙̻̣͋̄ͧe̠͛d.̘̲ͫ̓**_

"Gladiolus...the hell is that...?"

 _ **A worthy challenge, at the very least. Let's see how hard we can kill this one.**_

 _ **Th̺͇̒̈́e͑ͯ ̣͖͛̾r͖ͮė͚̗ͦd̞͍ ̭̊h̳̠̎͊yͭͧb̙rͮi̅̿̚d͍͇͍ ͭa͖̹͒̃nd͖͙ ̣̖͓̆ͣͫt̺̱̜̓ͯ͊h̏ͣ͛ė ̖͕̬reb̻ͯel st̥͓̘͋ͦ̌ame͔n̝̐,ͮͯ́ ̤͎͔i͈̚n t̪he̫̓ ͚̥̝ͣͩ̍sa̎̂m̖̠ẻ̮̳ͭ p̤̈l̐ace,̹̗̇ͦ̐ͅ ḁ̝̇̐t̺̰̺̉ͮͤ ̻ͭth͚̫͓̃ͣͤe ̟̝̹̾ͦͨsa͓͍ͩ̌m̼ͤe̳̣̺̎͆ͫ ̭̠̤͌̄̽tͭͯ̊ȋ̝m̫͑eͨ.̯ ̜̟͎ͧ̍̚Tr̰̱͎uḽ̜͓͑͂̇y̫̬ͫ̍, m̫͌ÿ́ͦ ͇͈̄͐Mis̹̬̱̊ͤ̈t͍̠r̜ͫeș̉s͚͋ ̼̓i̇̎̿s̞̆̉ͅ a̪tͮ̋ ̮̏ẅ̲́or̻̞̩ͨ̆ͤk̖̿ ̣̯̐͌h̲̺̩er͙̘̫̾̅ͯe.̞̙ͮ̓ Bo̜th̜͍̲ ofͣ̈́ y̪̝̌ͯou̟̘̤͋ͭ̿ ̅̅ͪs͆hal͎̯̳̇ͩ̅l ḓ̘̍̑ỉ̤̺͔̈̍s̝͈͒̔a͎̩͉͆ͬ̎p̘̝̜̓͐ͫp͚̱̬̀͗̆ear̰̹ͦͪ iͭ̎̚n̤̻̈͋ ̻͛tḫ͉̙̓̾̿e͈ͩ ̮͖͎vͬͦ̋o̯ͧ͛ͅi͐̾d̰͈̦ͭ̇́, a̬̠ͣ̋̐ͅs̫̭̱͗̅͊ šͅhe̼ͫ ͐̉͆is ̂̓̚ĉ̒̊alͪͅl̗̯̙̆̾̉i̻ng̹͉ ̏f̀̏̅or͙̽ ̜ͩy̫our añni̻hí͂́l͉̓a̳͕̖̿̿ͩt͎̭̎ͩi̘̣o͓͙͆ͧn̰ͨ.**_

"Well, you know what they say. This will be fun."

"Hiroo? Fuuuun?"

* * *

Meanwhile, in the heart of COSMOS, the situation was tense too. The surveillance devices were not lying – the rebel stamen had entered the Garden, and death had decided to come along for the ride. Most of the _Seven Sages plus Hachi_ were gone, back to ordinary mortal occupations such as eating, sleeping, or doing something totally improductive as most fleshbags liked to do. Of them, three only were still there, looking at the security videos : Papa, eternal and unrelenting, his beatboxing assistant, and one of the silent goons that approved his every orders in the council.

"Well, it surely looks like Code Minus 016 decided to come back to play."

"Hate the game, not the playah. V to the I to the R to the M..."

"...He killed all these guards? What a pity...for them." completed Papa. "For now, twelve casualties. Not a big deal. If he's only here to free a few of them from their prisons of meat, who are we to disagree with him?"

"He could prove himself quite...disruptive to the order, the peace, we have tried to impose in this human society. For now, he's only mauling mortals, but if they start seeing him as an alternative to our paradise...we could lose _decades_ of progress in our grand design to impose our ways to these earthlings." The voice of the usually silent Sage was no more than a whisper, but his words were striking close to the heart of Papa, who nodded with approval.

"You are right, of course. That is why you will eliminate him, as well as any other mortal having seen him."

"Even the high-ranked ones? What if Werner or Amanda discovers him and learns about his presence?"

"You better go before it happens, I guess. We cannot allow it to happen." Papa's displeasure could be heard in his answer, and the Sage left his chair, ready to go back to the earth. Around five feet tall, he was a lot smaller than the rest of the Sages, even the most human ones. His gloved hands were now tightened around the handles of a pair of katars, whose edges looked like they were burning with a sickly green flame. He looked one last time at Papa ; their faces were, as always, concealed behind their simian masks, but some spark of understanding passed between them, in a moment that felt like it dragged on for an eternity. A second later, he had disappeared in a flash of purple light. The silence of the room was broken, a few moments later, by Papa's First Chief Assistant :

"That shit's gay, yo."

Papa did not seem to notice his queer remark – or, if he did, he did not care. The rebel stamen would be taken care of, the Earth would still be under their control, mankind would still be bound to join them in paradise. The klaxxosaurs would only be a footnote in the history of this planet, one no one would remember. Was the boy a pawn of their enemies now? Once again, he had no reason to care – it was irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. And yet...there was a part of his mind that wanted him to be, if only for this occasion to be a rematch, a revenge to honor old grudges and a bittersweet past. Joining his hands, Papa smiled under his golden mask.

 _This would be fun._

* * *

"This will be fun indeed, Code 003, but curb your goddamn enthusiasm. This is a battle against an enemy who's probably _at least_ as powerful than we are, and if you get us killed in battle, the Garden will probably fall – and with it, the hopes and dreams of mankind."

Reasoning with the hybrid stamen was a near-impossible task, but Mayon was still trying. His state of mind was caught somewhere between a revenge-induced frenzy and the ecstasy to get his old status back in the case of a victory. As he said it, he was not doing it for himself, he was doing it for himself _and_ for Papa, APE, FranXX and FranXY, Hon...005 – Honey was the name that _this fucking traitor_ had given her. He would give her one. A better one. He still needed to find it, however.

"You don't fucking understand, 004. Of course you don't...this, out there, is not a fight," he started ranting again, a few inches away from her face, exalted by the revelation they had in the upper archives, "this is _my destiny._ It's just a part of some great plan to restore me to my rightful place – I just have to grab it"

"I fucking understand that if you don't shut up _now_ , you will have to grab your destiny with less than ten fingers. And you should try to understand it too." Her answer had been a lot calmer, a lot _colder_ than she ought to be with such fighting words, but that was kind of balanced by the long serrated dagger that had just appeared between her nimble fingers, pointed not at his hands but at his groin, probably for emphasis. As an ironic result, his persona lost a lot of its edge in but a few seconds. As he stepped back, a sheepish expression on his face, the blade disappeared as fast as it had emerged.

"Nice to see that we understand each other so well."

Urtica was now standing in front of them, like a giant made of obsidian, a black knight of an old fairy tale, ready to pummel the enemy into a bloody, irrelevant smear on the ground with the mere strength of his fists. Despite its last battle against Hiro having resulted in a crushing defeat, the FranXX was still standing, full of edge and spiky bits – just like its stamen. Even the ignition and connection process seemed quicker than usual, as if the monster of dark biometal was as hungry for revenge, or at the very least a rematch, as his master. His thrusters and engine sounded likewise fiercer than usual, as the primitive sliver of consciousness inside was longing for battle. In the horizon, the monstrous dragon was slowly circling the forest of the north, burning it to cinders under the massive shadow of its wings, its maws vomiting torrents of green-blue flames upon the mighty pines. 003 smiled – at last a worthy opponent. This time, he would not make the mistake to underestimate it. Besides, his partner was not a nameless, faceless pistil without any special abilities, but another hybrid, one of his ilk. She was not as skilled nor as beautiful as Honey, but honestly...who was?

His daydreaming about revenge and success was interrupted by the bips of an incoming communication – from no other than Dr FranXX. With a frown and a sigh, he picked it up. The old perverted man could be a sadistic asshole, but in that case, he surely had something to tell them to help them in this endeavour.

"Hakase. I hope that you have something interesting to say..."

" _Shut up faggot, I'm here to warn you. This, out there, is not a klaxxosaur. It's not a Goblin-class, it's not a Kobold-class, it's not a Mohorovicic nor a Gutenberg-class. It's not a Lehmann, not a Super-Lehmann...and let me tell you a little secret : it's not a Balaur-class either, though it's been made with the remnants of the biggest Balaur-class to have ever walked this Earth. This...is the cream of the crop of the FranXX that humanity – well, me, in that case – managed to create. This is beyond the mass-produced FranXX, beyond even the fucking Urtica. This is GLADIOLUS, the goddamn apex of evolution._ "

"Yeah, yeah, I know, it's a good one, it's the best, it's fucking amazing – now stop fawning over it and tell me how to kill it. Quick."

" _Holy hell you're fucking stupid. I spent around ten years making this masterpiece – it was already one of my pet projects when you were just a cluster of shitty cells in a test tube. Did you think that I'd create the ultimate war strider and not fix every single weakness I could think of – that I'd sabotage my own work, just to make sure it could be taken down in case of a rebelling little shit?_ "

"War strider?" Mayon was puzzled by the use of this term. Sure, that could accurately describe some of the FranXX, but still...

" _Yeah, sorry 004. Old-fashioned word...that's how I used to call them before they decided to give them my name. Anyway, I just called to say that Papa is watching you. Try to win and survive, the future of mankind depends on you two not being losers. Good luck, 004, try to not get killed. 003, do your thing, I don't care._ "

The communication ended, cut by a seething 003, as they arrived close enough to the stampeding FranXX. Gold and teal and bronze, fire and fury incarnated in a rape machine. A combat for the ages, no doubt, where blood and guts – well, the closest equivalent in their bodies of alien flesh and metal – would no doubt be profusely featured. Feeling the need to speak again after the scathing remarks of the old man, Reiza opened the comms again, this time towards the monster.

After all, Hiro was supposed to be inside, right?

"This is the second time we meet, Code 016. This time, there will be no mercy, and I have no intention to hold back my blows. You _will_ be brought to heel, _Hiro_. Either by death...or, screw it, by death! So prepare to die, you...you...YOU...Heh, I have no words strong enough to express how much I loathe you and what you represent, so let's just stop talking – it it time to FIGHT! For I am REIZA, YOUR NEMESIS AND YOUR DEATH!"

There was scorn and contempt in the gaze of Gladiolus as the battle began, hatred and fury in her ear-shattering roar and in the flames she was breathing ; and, likewise, there was scorn and contempt in the way Mayon sighed at his bombastic tirade. The second round of their story was beginning – and, this time, there was no guarantee that it would be fun for either of the fighters on the battlefield.

* * *

 _Is he done blabbing yet?_

 _ **This one talks too much**_ **.** ** _That is why he loses so much._**

 _You already fought him?_

 _ **Yeah, once. He was wielding a bigger sword and he moved more slowly. The way my master destroyed him was...kind of arousing, to be honest.**_

 _Still looks more powerful than the other ones we fought today._

 _ **Still a lot less powerful than us – though that's not saying a lot.**_

 _What are even these? Big fists? Is he going to punch us to death?_

 _ **...What?...**_

 _Sorry. Don't know why I said that, it's stupid. Of course he's going to punch us to death._

 _ **Not if we kill him first.**_

 _Well said._

 _ **Oh-ho. Looks like my lovely master needs backup. Fast.**_

 _So what? We're going to this place to wreck everything?_

 _ **No, I'm just going to let you pilot. Right now, he needs everything I can give him.**_

 _But...but..._

 _ **No "if", no "but". Time to remove the training wheels, princess. Try not to die, I have a husband to save.**_

* * *

 _ **I don't know what this ningen is...but I'm pretty sure it's not a normal ningen.**_

"You got a mistress, huh? I bet she doesn't kiss y..." Hiro's taunt was cut short by the charge of this newfound enemy, who ran headlong into the stamen, ramming into him like a battleship into a fishing boat. The mean shoulderbash sent the stamen flying into the wall, his lungs emptied by the violence of the impact – which had probably broken a few ribs as well. Without ever gloating to celebrate this first blood, like an opponent with more pride, more mercy and less intelligence may have, the grunt grabbed Hiro again as he was barely getting back up, coughing blood...before throwing him against the other wall, just beside the screen.

 _ **Master? Is everything alright?**_

"Not...really...alright. I think...it's time for you to help me..."

 _ **Everything for you, my love...**_

In one second, the pain of shattered bones and strained flesh was gone, replaced by primal killing instinct, murderous intent and cold efficiency. The seconds, as the merciless monster was coming closer and closer, seemed to slow to a halt, giving him a bit of time to analyze what the hell was going on. The Crimson Lotus had been thrown out during the grapple, so he could not count on having the longer reach. Still, he had the Mailman. Six shots : two to the knees, three to the chest, and the last one, point-blank to the face. A good plan. Then, comforting the little hybrid, getting Honey's medical data, getting out of here. Still a solid plan, nothing beyond the realms of possibility really. Escaping, maybe with the little one? She could have a nice future out there with him and Ohime – just the two of them, three with Gladiolus and maybe four with Honey, could become tiresome. Anyway, every single one of these plans relied on him being able to dump his magazine in the body of the definitely not normal APE guard. Well, dumping his magazine...the weapon had none to begin with. Six shots to make in less than two seconds. Easy, right?

If only.

He managed to get back up and shoot three times before his foe reached him. Two of the bolts of burning energy hit their target : one in the groin area, one in the thigh, each one of them making a hole in the grey flesh, big enough for Hiro's fist to fit inside without any problem. However, these _massive_ gaping holes clearly were not enough to cripple or disable the inhuman creature, who was barely slowed down by such an onslaught. Worse, the flesh of the beast started growing over the horrible wounds in a span of seconds, this inhuman vitality letting only scars behind it as its march towards Hiro was utterly unaffected by what would have killed lesser men a hundred times over, or, _at the very least_ , would have disabled them for the time being. Even if the question of its true nature was still out there, there was no need of further confirmation about what it was not – the creature in front of them was not a human being, and not a mortal. Whatever interrogations Hiro might have about how to properly kill it dead were cut short by the next blow, which swatted the ancient klaxxo gun out of his hand like a fly. A second vicious strike hit his head, pummelling the stamen's jaw like a sledgehammer. Even with the assistance of his wife, veiling the pain behind a curtain of black ice, Hiro felt the impact of the massive fist. No weapon, and an angry beast hellbent on killing him, with hands that might as well have been slabs of granite. He was _neck deep into manure_ , to quote the words of Mitsuru and his farming metaphors. Fucking Mitsuru.

He managed to block another blow, raising his arm to take the hit instead of his head. Cold metal against brute stone – the pain was barely there, dull and foggy thanks to the intervention of Gladiolus, whose feelings of fear and concern he could sense as clearly as his own. Focusing his strength and focus in a mighty punch, he launched his own counterattack – no way to cripple, even for a short time, an enemy able to regenerate this way by gut-punching him. As it stood, there was only one target where he could hope to fuck him up properly. Two blows to the head, one to break the metal mask that covered its face, the second one to stun and daze ; Hiro's knuckles whitened under the strength of this mighty, face-exploding, bull-felling strike, one that would have penetrated a concrete wall, the chest of a normal _ningen_ or a few inches of FranXX plating. It is fair to say that the mask of the hulking grunt did not resist such a mighty impact, folding like paper. The second hit buried the slivers of metal inside the grey skin of the hungry face beneath, popping the eyes and shattering the bones in a grisly display.

Hiro did not know how long his foe would remain disabled by such an attack, and decided to even the odds by getting one of his weapons back. He dodged the grapple attempt of the unholy creature, trying to jump towards the Mailman, the closest one. Sure, the fiery handgun had not been _that_ useful for now...however, he knew, deep down inside him, that when the use of mindless violence was useless in a situation, the next step in line was _MORE_ mindless violence. Probably a suggestion from Gladiolus, who was purring into his soul like a kitten during this battle, even though he had taken a few hits. But heh, to most hardened berserkers like her, fighting was about being hit as much as it was about hitting – and right now, he felt closer to her than he had ever been. In one swift move, he went down to the ground, reaching for the weapon, before trying to turn back, ignoring the tearing sounds that came from behind him. _Something_ prevented him.

He felt a wet sensation on his torso, just before he heard the voice of Gladiolus, in the deepest reaches of his mind, explode from a tiny whisper to an ear-piercing scream and fear and agony. Looking down at his chest, he quickly understood her reaction.

Of course, his link with her, pushed to inhuman levels, could help him with a lot of things : pain, stress, strength and stamina, skill at arms and agility.

But, looking down at his still-beating heart, impaled upon the grey claw of his foe – which, helped by his strength and speed, had pierced his chest from back to front to seize the precious organ inside – Hiro started to understand that there were feats even beyond the reach of his wife's abilities. His body shivered one last time, before sliding off the arm of his murderer.

"Hiro? Hirooo! HIROOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

"Goddamn, that is _brutal_."

Papa's comment was once again breaking the silence. Even though the dual-wielding silent killer was gone to...assess the situation, Hachi had replaced him, fortunately without having witnessed anything out of the ordinary. Even if he had...well, he had been a decent underling, vastly more competent than the others of the Council, so letting him see a bit more than the others would not be such a huge mistake. Speaking of things out of the ordinary, that guard was clearly among them. A hulking brute, made of grey muscles and will to punch in the face.

"Just look at what he did to that door, Hachi! I need to call Werner right now, this old bastard forgot to tell me he still was working on enhanced humans...What a surprise."

"Well, sorry Papa...but I'm pretty sure he's not one of Werner's creations...He just told something about 'his mistress' or something."

"Amanda, maybe?"

"She doesn't have the skills required. I'm sure about this."

"Wait...how did you hear...?" Papa was suddenly puzzled by the words of his colleague. After all, they had cameras in this place, but no way to hear what these interlopers were saying.

"I'm just very good at lip-reading. I definitely _did not_ bug the meeting room to make sure to be aware of every single thing inside at every possible moment."

"Oh good, good. What is Code Minus 016 talking about?"

"Something about needing help...holly molly!"

Holly molly indeed, as the camera screens of the COSMOS council meeting room showed the stamen getting back on his feet and targeting the genital parts of his foe with his handgun, blowing away a sizeable chunk of matter. _That_ was a low blow, and both Hachi and Papa audibly groaned in pain, out of pure masculine solidarity. One had cast away the trappings of mortality a long time ago and the other has trained himself to stay as stone-faced and unfeeling as he could – but even then, there were some kind of pains they could not help but react to. The most powerful reaction, however, came from the Vice Chief Assistant, still sitting near Papa, who started hooting and hollering, as if someone had pointed a camera at his head and shouted "WORLDSTAR" :

"Damn, this whitey boy a stone-heart bitch and he's packing fucking heat. Ain't not cool, shooting balls like this. This ain't no basketball match nigga. Dat stamen went full forced transition on this poor soul. Papa have mercy on this nigga, he gonn' sing gospel for the church with da old grandmas and the little pistils now. Nigga got the magma castration treatment without the immortality part. This nigga only have one head now – disregard bitches, acquire food. Nigga's gotta ask for reparashuns from the white stamen...what the fuck, nigga starting to regenerate his tail like some kind of bitch ass lizard. Nigga going full Wolverine without the claws and the sideburns..."

"You know what, I'm just...going to let you comment this fight, Vice Chief. You seem better at it anyway." Papa's voice and demeanor was calm and compliant, and his answer was clearly the one that his assistant was waiting for.

"Damn straight nigga, I ain't going to disappoint yo ass. You's a straight nigg...hot damn, da little white boy is packing heat _and_ punches. Whitey's about to reverse the shower rape by making him drop the soap. Have mercy Papa, this chonk nigga's gonna get punch'd back into the hivemind if it continues. Nigga gonna cry like some bitch ass Stacy quoting back FBI crime stats to him on Twitter. Nigga got trapped in an infinite weird stunlock combo... DAAAAAAAYUUUUM WHITEY GOT DABBED ON BY DAT ABSOLUT UNIT NIGGA! DAT NIGGA ABOUT TO SCREAM 'FATALITY' AND GET A VICTORY SCREEN! NIGGA RIPPED HIS HEART OUT LIKE HE GONNA SACRIFICE HIM TO KALI! THIS NIGGA DOING IT FOR VIRMKANDA FOREVER!"

"That was a horrible decision, Papa." Hachi commented, looking with stern disapproval to the Vice Chief, who was now performing all kinds of arm gestures to express his joy at the situation he was witnessing.

"Don't you think I know? Well, at the very least, the Hiro matter has been solved and...wait, what the hell?"

"Oh boy, here we go. This is going to be fun."

* * *

Ashes. Ashes and blood. How Hiro got here, he did not know. He did not remember how he got there. The quest for Honey's salvation, the fight, the battle, Gladiolus...the rest was kind of blurry. He was lying on his back now, looking at a stormy sky while flakes of gray ash were dancing in the wind amidst a red drizzle. For an obscure reason, he felt at peace here. A place where, in a way, he belonged – but even that feeling did not stop him from getting up quickly, muttering a stream of curses and cusses as he looked around. He could not feel the calming presence of Gladiolus inside of his mind, could not hear her whispers, as omnipresent as his own heartbeat. Or at the very least, he could not hear them in his head, but, sad and broken, her voice came from behind him. Even in those bizarre adventures, he could not help but marvel at her sight – she was even more beautiful here, in this landscape of destruction, than in the glimpses and reflections of the mirror. Just like back then, she was wearing her brass markings, highlighting the toned muscles of her chest, legs and arms.

" _ **So. I failed you, master...**_ "

"Gladiolus dear, what are you talking about?" he asked, a bit puzzled by the situation. "I mean, the fighting was a bit more intense than against the other guards, I give you that. Well, and the guy was clearly _inhuman_ , judging by the way he healed these holes, and..."

" _ **Hiro. You're dead.**_ "

"Oh."

To be honest, he did not know how to react to this new information. It was coming back to him, though : the way the enemy had torn his heart from his chest before letting him fall to the ground, the way 02 had screamed his name before his mind disappeared into darkness...

That would have been coherent with him "dying". However, he still had his consciousness, he could still move and talk and think, so there was some kind of powerful fuckery at work here. However, with Gladiolus looking at him that way, he felt that he had the perfect person to talk about this...state of being. Looking around him for anything in the background of this dreary place – there was absolutely nothing – he asked, still puzzled :

"So, I'm dead. How are you so sure of it?"

" _ **I know it, because that place is the one I've been trapped in for sixty million years, master, both as a klaxxosaur, and as a Raised-Dead – a FranXX, as your people called them. Well, before I met you, of course.**_ "

"Now you're becoming confusing. You were not dead during all these years, weren't you?"

The anger and despair on her face were more and more intense as she was probably trying to control her urges and not slap him in the face. Finally, after sitting down, her toes and tail playing in the ashes, she answered :

" _ **No, you're right, I wasn't dead. However...**_ "

"And if you were not dead then, and if we're at the same place you were then...then we're not dead. Simple."

"... _ **However there's no way out of here. This is my prison, master. So, in a way, you're right. You're not dead. Just trapped in here, between the worlds, with me. Not**_ **totally** _ **dead, but not alive either.**_ "

Taking a deep breath and thinking about the weight of this revelation, Hiro started talking again, slowly, softly, making sure to choose his words carefully as he was sitting on the ground besides her :

"So, to my understanding...correct me if I'm wrong or forgetting something, of course...we, or at least our spirits, souls, or whatever, are in the same place you stayed for dozens of millions of years before meeting me, because I was killed by some strange, _Her-worshipping_ enemy that managed to tear my heart out. For some reason, – which is, if I had to guess, the fact that we were, to quote you, _closer than ever_ – instead of going to what lies after death, my mind, soul or whatever once again, decided to join you here. It could be worse...I guess. At least I'm still with you."

" _ **It could be worse...IT COULD BE WORSE?! Do you even know what this place is? It's not hell, because at the very least hell has something that keeps you from boredom, even if that's just eternal pain. Here, there's just...nothing...**_ "

Hiro didn't listen to the end of her distressed speech as she was sobbing and burying her head into her hands, preferring to experiment a bit with this new world. His first test was trying to slap himself in the face : total success, the pain stung as much as usual. At this point, Gladiolus threw him a glance that was even more desperate than previously. Why wouldn't she? Her dear master seemed to have gone mad by the thought of spending even more time in this place alone with her and...

A second later, she was jumping three feet with a surprised yelp in the air, nearly landing on her back, as she felt his devilish fingers tease her sides and hips with ruthlessness. Judging by his wide, smug smile, it was the reaction he was going for. Trying to compose herself, she spluttered, taken aback and frightened by the playful light in her master's eyes – but still trying to look as angry and frightening herself as possible :

" _ **Don't. Ever. Try. That. Again.**_ "

"Ticklish, are we?" Hiro asked, before acting like a gentleman and giving her a hand to get up, his smile growing even wider when she danced away from any wriggling fingers. "Bah, doesn't matter. I had the answers I wanted – both of us can still feel most stimuli."

" _ **You could have just...asked, instead of being such a fool. Yes, we can feel quite a lot. Pain and pleasure, even though pain disappears faster than normal, seeing as, well, there's no body to hurt. Also, neither food nor sleep are needed. Not like you could sleep here, anyway.**_ "

"Don't be such a spoilsport, _darling_. You were so keen on giving me advice on how to tease Ohime, so that sounded fair to turn the tables. Besides..." he added before bringing her closer, "...I needed to be sure about it...before doing _this_."

In hindsight, she should have seen it coming. That's how he had proceeded with Ohime before her – behaving like a sly, teasing brat before moving in for the kill. And her, who had literally shared his mind, bound to him by pacts older than both their races, should have understood it quicker than anyone else. Though, still in hindsight, she was glad to have been so blind to his lovely schemes ; because feeling him grab firmly but tenderly her head between his nimble and yet so strong hands, drawing her even closer before kissing her with passion was the kind of surprise that wasn't made to be spoiled. For now, he still was a bit smaller than her, having to tiptoe to meet her on equal footing. Her knees grew weaker by the minute as his thumbs, artfully, started rubbing the base of her horns. A few seconds later, when she tried to escape his lips, he was basically grabbing them, using them as handles, without forgetting to run a finger up and down the length of each one of them. And here she was, waiting with starry eyes and bated breath as the man, the boy who had stolen her heart and taken her for his rightful wife, played with her horns. Clearing her throat, she asked, trying to sound confident even though she clearly was at her weakest :

" _ **Hmm. Why...was that for, dearest?**_ "

"Can't a man kiss his wife for no peculiar reason, my love? Anyway, let's just say this one is for saving Honey and bonding with me. A 'you can kiss the bride' moment, if you wish...and one that was long overdue." he explained, quoting the words of Honey's old picture book.

His hands left her horns, earning him a disappointed frown from Gladiolus...just before he started running them down her cheeks, neck and torso, quelling her squeals of surprise with a powerful hug as he buried his face into her nape. She smelled like fresh blood and strawberries...and for some reason, her smell evoked in him urgings that he couldn't fight, vivid visions of forbidden pleasures, of lecherous abandon...visions of himself laying her down in the ashes of this place, conquering her like she should be conquered. Gladiolus was his partner, his wife, they had given themselves to each other at a level Ohime and Honey could only dream of, and that probably made the possibility to discover the hidden wonders of her nubile body all the more enticing. He stopped licking her collarbone long enough to look at her in the eyes, seeing in her burning gaze the same sort of longing he felt for her.

"In a way, I'm kind of glad this _thing_ killed me. At least, that means...you're not alone. Not anymore."

He had spoken without thinking too long about what he was saying ; a kind of honesty he always had, and that had worked a lot during these times. Most of the time, the ladies he had met – Ohime, Honey, even Gladiolus – had loved his spontaneous words, that combined the charm of a veteran seducer and the sweet innocence of a child. This time, however, his words seemed to ring _too_ true at the ears of his partner. A spark of anger passed in Gladiolus' golden gaze as, showing a strength which Hiro had already experienced during his battles, she threw him a few meters away. The stamen landed on his back – she was right, pain was temporary in that realm. However, the face Gladiolus was showing, her intimidating attitude as she was towering over him, the frenzied agitation of her tail, everything in her was spelling big trouble for him. As if to dissuade him from moving, getting up, maybe even from explaining himself for his choice of words and fatalistic approach to the situation, she gently put her tiny bare foot, covered in ashes but otherwise perfect in all respects, on his crotch. Some kind of warning about his behavior – but said warning was defused by both Hiro and Gladiolus' widening eyes at the contact. Then, she smiled. Of course, there would be a way to exploit this.

" _ **You would like that, of course, Master. You would**_ **love** _ **to discover me, discover the untold hundreds of ways we could have fun with each other. What would it be first? Where would your tongue trail my body? My horns? My tail? ...Oh, maybe my chest, my feet or my butt? How many hours would we spend mating and cuddling in the blood and ashes, bound together forever here as wife and husband? Maybe, in another time, another era, that would have been something I could aspire to. Even if this place is just a heap of ashes, maybe with your help we could have a tiny bit of heaven here.**_

 _ **And yet that wouldn't save your partner. That wouldn't help the princess. That would not save our race from dying out. You need to be alive to do that. The outside world...it needs you more than I do. Now strip.**_ "

"Wait, what?" Hiro asked, before he felt Gladiolus wiggle her toes on his crotch, producing an...interesting sensation. Unlike the stamen uniform he was wearing during his time under APE's control, this one had no special reinforcement at this place, a fact that let him woefully unprepared to endure this kind of teasing for too long. He made a mental note to remedy to this problem...just to be sure to withstand more _attacks_ targeting this place in the near future. If he ever got out of this place, of course.

" _ **You heard me, Master. Strip now, or I'm undressing you myself, and I'm pretty sure you may not find it as pleasing as it may be in your fantasies. We don't have much time.**_

"Much time for what?" he asked once again, starting to undress. "Also, if you could just...remove your foot, my love, that'd be great."

His wish was granted instantly, and even if a part of himself was feeling a bit of regret, he now had a bit more freedom to totally strip down. A second later, he was laying down in the ashes again on his side, Gladiolus in front of him. Her anger, her frustration, everything was gone now – there was only tenderness, something nearly _maternal_ in the way she extended a hand to stroke his cheek.

" _ **Sometimes I forget about how young you still are, master. When they told me I'd fall in love with a child from another species, I did not believe them. But now...**_ "

"Them? What are you talking about, Gladiolus?"

This time, it was her turn to tease him, her hand lightly stroking him down there, now that there were no layers to protect him anymore. Hiro tried his best to listen to her as she was answering his question – even though her soft, slender fingers were taking his thoughts and dreams somewhere else.

" _ **I was young, back then. And stupid. I dabbled in a lot of stupid things.**_ " she explained with a sigh, playing with him. " _ **I met people I shouldn't have met, asked questions I shouldn't have asked. And got answers I should never have had. There's a lot that I won't say here...but they told me quite a bit about the future. About you. How my betrothed would be the child of another race, many aeons later. How I would die before he would marry me, and how he would bring me back. How he would die after marrying me, and how I would bring him back. How he would...bring back our empire to its former glories...**_ "

To Hiro's great frustration, her hand migrated to his chest, her nails delightfully tracing the outlines of his chest muscles. His blood was throbbing all through his body, and he bit his lip to force himself to stand still and not force himself on her. As if she was feeling his arousal – how couldn't she? He was making it quite difficult to ignore... – she smiled again. She took his hand to her lips, kissing it lightly, before whispering, her golden eyes full of a hardly repressed passion :

" _ **I could go on for quite a long time about what they have told me about you. The point is...for now, everything happened as they said. You may not have a flaming sword or a golden armor or horns bigger than my own, like in my old dreams...at least for now. But you're here, you exist, you love me. That's all I ask for.**_ "

With these words, she drew him towards her, hugging him like she had never hugged anyone, like in a desperate bid to keep him to herself despite her claims. Her next words, merely a breath in his ear, sounded just as distressed to the former stamen as her embrace – and even though there was many a reason to despair now, with them being halfway dead and all that weird situation, her concern seemed to stem from a totally different source.

" _ **Master, could you be kind enough to show me...the kind of stuff that comes after kissing?**_ "

"You mean you don't know how it goes afterwards?"

" _ **It's not that I don't know, it's just...I'm a virgin, remember? Besides, I've never been very interested in this kind of stuff and...**_ "

"Between your teasing and all that, I would never have guessed. Are you sure you're..."

" _ **Oh, by the Horn...master, that was your cue to take the lead, stop being so dense and start fu...**_ "

Hiro sealed her lips with a burning kiss, cutting off her explanations. A second later, he was straddling her, his eyes feasting with hunger on her intimate treasures, that she was trying to display with a proud, and yet very cute, innocence – a side of her that he wasn't entirely familiar with. In the last moment before getting to work in his usual slow, sensual way, he once again approached his face from hers, bumping her horns with his own brow.

"Don't worry, honeykitten. We're going to make it. Together."

" _ **Call me like that again and I'll make you rue the day you were born.**_ "

"Alright, alright... _General_ Honeykitten."

She would have liked to be able to protest, but he had already gone straight to his work, unleashing his passion in a way only as his hands and lips, not his words, could express. Her role in this battle was over and for now, all she had to do was lie in the ashes and let him have this little victory. Something that would be, undubitably, quite _fun_.

* * *

When the diminutive agent of Papa entered the room, still wearing the golden mask and white robes of his function, the situation was...quite complicated. First things first, on a whole wall of the room was projected a slideshow presentation about top secret stuff – the kind of information that should barely leave the COSMOS flying fortress, let alone be shown to the entire world. Did the entire world need to know about these programs, for Papa's sake? No, it didn't. Of course. And yet that slideshow was there. Goddamn Werner.

However, that slideshow was not the most important problem here. Three other people were also here...well, two and a half, seeing as one of them was the diminutive member of the Key Program. What was its code again...001? 002? Nothing important, of course. Once he would be done here, the little thing would be sent back to Werner to be mindwiped. Not a problem for APE and the leaders thereof. The two remaining people were...clearly not supposed to be there either. The first one, for obvious reasons : Code 016 was _persona non grata_ in the Garden. Even though the young stamen that had been partnered with the blue hybrid had changed since the last reports, he was still easily recognizable. Among the changes, a big, huge, gaping hole on his chest, which for humans was usually lethal. The sheer quantity of blood that had been spilled on the floor confirmed this – unless a miracle happened, Code 016 was as good as dead. Very good.

The second one, that hulking brute coming out of nowhere, seemed to be a more immediate threat to APE than the dying stamen. His uniform had been the one of an APE guard, but the one carrying it was...clearly not one. His flesh, his skin, his muscles, even his face bore the mark of another master than Papa ; the future that APE promoted was one of calm, simple uniformity, and whoever would carry the task of protecting it would do it under the same conditions. Activating the magma blades he had been hiding in his sleeves for decades, the herald of the Seven Sages spoke, with a voice that was colder than the dark void between the stars :

"Whoever you may serve, know that your life ends up here. There's no place on this planet for those who fight against Papa and his grand design."

" _ **Ỵ̳̭̅̑ͭo̰̙ͨ̃ur̫͎͉ͨ̅̀ ͑ͥwor̥̭̘d͉̝̓ͤs̮͕ ̦̺͔are̟ ͆͑ͥa͛͊̚s ̘̘͈̿̍̈́e̗͛m͖p̦͊ty̻̐ ̅a̽̆s͍̝̣̅̓̚ ṫ̹h͒̊ͫe̖̳͈ ͓̆d̑̋aͪ̄͌r͛͆̄k ̓corn̰̜ͣ͗e̳̓̇ͅr͍̰̊͐ ̹̋o̝̜f ̦͂s͓̏p͈̺̋̀á̳̝̇͒ͅce yo̲̞͙̎̓͛u̱͎̽ͦ'r̹͕̗e ͌ȟ̻ai̮͔ͅling̮̳̣ ̹̰̑̆f̞̄r̥̞̯̀̑̽o̹̤̬m,̣̤͕ͤ̊̏ l͚̲͙̑̽̅ee̙̹̺̓͐̔c̘̤̗h͓̻̭̃̀ͦ. ̭̩̀̉S͓̻ͦ̍o̝̻̻oͨ̚n̈́ͯ̚,̜͆ ͈y̟̲̠̑̔̿o̭̗̝u͎͈͈͌͑ͭ, ͤỳ͔̹̘̉̊ou̝͌r ̼ͥw̖o̠ͨrl̙̻ͮ̀́ͅd ͕͆á͚̜͍́̾nd yͨ̓õ̟ur "p͕ar̀ͪͥa̳ͅd̜̂i͕̫s̠e̞̳"̃̆̎ w͙̯ͣ̊ͦͅil͉̺̣̈́̂̀l ̻͆kn̓̒́ow̤ ̱̆t̯̎h͕ͦe ̺͊s̳͒wee̖ͅt̿ͥ̒ ḵ͈͂̑is͍̝ͯ̔s̅ͬ̽ ̮̜͈ͫͪ̋o̘͋f anni̬͖̹̒̽ͤh̲̠il̮͈̦̾̉ͪa͖̰̓ͨt͚̱͆̆i̘͓̙ͪͪ͂o̮ͭn͌̔.̻̜̦ͭ̓̃ ͔̪̹̓ͯ̉A̲̥ͪ̚n̳͎̭d ̠͈͈͆̃ͮI̺͐ w͇̭̜̏̿ͥil͂l̟̿ b̜̬̫̍ͬ̀e ̹̾t͕her͔̫̙̀͂̄e͕̝̼̅͋ͯ å͗̏t͇̣͓ ͓̐ḛ̅ver̫̝̊̚y̟͔͖ͭ̂̀ s̽̅͗t̓͌ͪeͪp͉ͅ ͯo̟̝̯͂̅ͫf ̒t̬̏h̟̜e ͕̰̈ͣ̚ͅṗat̻̝͍h͙̐,̝̌ ͔͖̠͑̎ͩȟ̉er͋͑͛ä̜͙́ͨld͗͊̓i͉͇n͚̩ͫ̈́g y̍̚o̬̓uȓ̬͍̤͛̏ ̟̪̑̽a̬͓̫p̥̑o̮ͬc̭̙ͣ͋al̐y͚͐p̼̰̟̀̒̽s̮̙͂̃e̜̣.**_ "

The Sage felt suddenly uneasy. This creature, this entity was speaking of things she was not supposed to know...of things no living human of this planet, adult or parasite, was supposed to comprehend. Papa had been right to send him here – this abomination needed to be purged and silenced, in the most brutal way possible. When the monster launched his attack, charging him like a boar, he had already evaded the assault by dashing under him, his twin blades whirling and striking at his...well, _its_ legs with frenzy. Unlike Hiro before him, he wasn't _that_ surprised to see the sizzling flesh reform : he had seen far worse during his life. The beast he was fighting was clearly something out of this world, an inhuman beast bearing unbearable truths.

Fortunately for him, the Sage was all of this, and more. Monster against monster, and a little monster to watch them duel – after untold aeons of boredom, at last something a bit more entertaining than scheming in the dark to corrupt and assimilate. The golden mask couldn't form a smile, and neither could the body beneath the immaculate white robes, but his unhealthy joy could be felt in the alacrity of his moves as he was jumping once again into the fray.

The little red gremlin was living another nightmare, one she was trying her best to wake up from. He was there, her prince, her savior, her _Hiro_...He had touched her, and had understood what he felt for her. She didn't know how, but she knew he did. And now, a monster had come for them, and had hurt her prince. That couldn't be real. No way. Nu-huh. As she was rushing towards his body, her tears flowing freely down her cheeks, she barely noticed the arrival of the white-clad newcomer, that had started to attack the monster too. Hiro was all that mattered, right now, and he was in a really sorry state, with a big wound on the chest, and his eyes deprived of his usual spark of life. She tried to shake him back to normal, first gently then harder.

"Hiro...Hiro! HIROOO!"

No reaction. The little mind of the former experiment subject was running wild right now, her imagination picturing the worst of the worst in that moment...and to be honest, her horrible scenarios were not that far from the truth. She tried to hug him tight, hoping that, just like in these stories she didn't quite understand, the power of her love and affection would bring him back. Once again, nothing, besides getting her little red hands full of his own red blood – a color that reminded her that even though she had felt for him an instant kinship, they were still different creatures, and nothing displayed it better than the differences in color between their bloods...well, maybe the different skin color, and the crimson horns on her head. And her sharp teeth. She instinctively licked that blood, that blood that was the one of a human being and not of a weird half-breed abomination like her, created in a laboratory by a sinful man to be experimented upon. Her burger, the mark of her bond to Mayon, to her safety and freedom, had fallen from her tiny hand as she looked around her for something, anything that would give her a bit of hope to restore her prince to his normal state.

For a few seconds, the only thing that she could focus on was the duel between the white-clad angel with the golden mask and the grey-skinned mutating beast that had hurt her prince. The first one could have been an ethereal ray of dancing light, so swift and precise were his moves and assaults – like lightning spilled from the cup of a wrathful god, he was giving a run for its money to the ever-changing monster he was fighting, at least more than Hiro ever did. Who knew Papa had such masterful warriors to his beck and call? Like some theatre play about the eternal battle between Order and Chaos, they were dancing together in a way that could only end up with the annihilation of one of them. An unnatural rage started rising inside the guts of the young red hybrid at the sight of the monster escaping its due punishment – a primal instinct, taking root in parts of the brain that were universal to the animal realm : the only question now was _fight or flight_ , and there was no reason to ever flee without Hiro, without her prince.

She started softly growling, showing her teeth at the mountain of grey skin and bulging muscles, the monster of her nightmares responsible for all of her trouble and pain. The old man in a lab coat smelling like ether and cheap alcohol was forgotten, as even him had not taken things as far as hurting her beloved. Her fury was soon akin to a red wave, a crimson mist invading her mind and soul as she pounced on the gargantuan soldier. A tiny red monster possessed by an overwhelming desire of vengeance against the mighty fist of a monster straight out of a nightmarish fairy tale – in any good story where David defeats Goliath and were the forces of good triumph against the minions of evil, she would have stood a chance.

But now? Not really.

Just like Hiro a few minutes before this, she was sent flying against the wall, a few bones broken by the impact, and, worse, he barely acknowledged her attempt to hurt him. However, the hybrid was resilient and she only stayed on the ground for a second, before getting up again. The others of her kind had lost most of their regenerative abilities during their growth to their adult form, but she still was a hard-as-nails, ain't-so-easy-to-kill, tenacious little red goblin ; her wounds did not last long, and she was already back to the battlefield a second later, her gaze instinctively searching for something to whack the enemy with...maybe the pointy thing her Hiro had brought with him? She heard the little white angel and the monster talk again, their voices sounding as ominous as ever.

 **"** ** _Y͂o̪̫͇u ȧ̦͚͙̾͋r͐́̔e͋͊̉ s͍̘͊ͭtr̠̱̫̋ͮ̀oͣng͎͍ i͙̱̝n̲d͇̃e̗̻̯ẹ̠͋ͤd, ̘̗̅͆p̥̌ařͬ́a̤̓s̠͈̯i̘̟ͭ͗t͛e͍̲͉.̲ͯ ̬͛B̮̮ͩ̈u̯̇t y̯͙o̰͆ǔ̞̭̳͗ͣr ͖̙ͨ̽ͣͅp̔o̟͛we̬͈ͮ͒r͈̄s̘ͨ ͥa̘̯̎̓r͉͐e͈ͤ no̞̥ͯͣt̘́h͖̱̪ͩ̑̋ing͆ ̖̌c̥ͣò̪̰̓͊ͅmp̪͌are̬̚dͣ̽ ͤ́t͔̘o̥ͧ  
h̠̮er̤̮͚̉̉͋ g̫ͦifṫ̜͇͚ͯ͐s.̦͔̗̾̐͋.͇̽. a͎̩̘̍͊͛nd ͗y͍ͣoǘͩͬ ̭̼̒́a͌̃͗r̀̾e̳͆ ̬̭͕̓ͫ̋n͚͈̝̄ͭ́o͙ͅthi̜ṉ͎g͔̘̓̂ co̓̓mp̖̫̱ͤ͛ͣa̪ͣre̹͂d͑̄ ̟̦̼̊̃̄to̱̙̱̎ͣ̏ ͪh̻̓e̥̰r ̐ͭ̈ḡ͚͖̚l̊ỏ͋͗r͕̲̖y̾͂._** **"**

"' _Her_ ' gifts? Lousy mistress indeed, if you're the apex of her creation."

 **"** ** _Ba̜bble ả͆ͦs ̯͑m̯̫̍͌uch̿͒ ̼̼̭a͚ͯṡ̗ ̳̬̹you ̘̅ẃ̟̘͋a̞n̝̖͊̉t̒̋ͨ,̣̲͋̐ ͛ͥl̅̀̍i͋̇̽t̩̟̙̏̋ͬt̖̣̬l̗̹̬̔ͨͩe̜ le̮̗ͯ̀e̝c͓̘͍̀ͣ͗h͈͉̻ͤͣ̌.̳̤ ̗̣Oͩ͒n͇͍̺͊ͧ̆c̘̺ͦͨe̩̖̲ ́͊̚I̜̱'̫ͪm̻̲ͮ͂ ̥͈͍ͪ̋͌ov̐̓̔e͇̻̳͌̃ͮr ̏̌ͨw͖̹̆̊iͧͣt̬̬h̥ ͂̑̌t̘he͉͖se̫̩̙͐̇ͮ ̫̻͇̾̄̏tw̪͔o,̺̦ͤ͑ ̥̮ͫͣShe̗̣  
ẅ̱i̟̋͊ͅll̠͔͇̔̎ͤ ̦̌be͖͇̒͊ ̳̻͍ͮ̑̇cõ̤̗͔͐̌miͤ̏ñ̲̖͐g ̲̼̜̌̔ͧf̉̑ͥo̰̅r͎̬ ͕̟͉̐ͬͪyou͊ͬ̓r̥̯̉ͣ ̫̜͇l̊iẗ̞t͌̊l̬͈͓̓̏͊e̱ ͖̺̔̓h͇̫͊̐e̜̣a͕ṽ͈e̩͒n.͆ ̟͔͔Y̻o̅̆̓uͧr͆̄ tiͪmͭ͌e ̒̊î̬̮̇s ͍͈̔͊pa͒st͈͇̲͒͐̅,ͩ ̣̺͈͆̈ͧfͪoͧͭr S͉̭͎h͊̊̔e͙͙̋ͭ  
wi͉͍ͪ͒l̻̮̗͛ͮ̚l end ̺̜̖̔̈́͒your͇͂ sͥͣtȏ̯̳ͪrͭ̾y͔͍̲͌͋ͪ.̃ͅ _****"**

An eyeblink later, Papa's agent was leaping with thunderous fury, not only because of the former guard's words but, also, because Zero Two now wielding the polearm of the rebel stamen with violent intent – and as such would inevitably provoke an opening in his defence. That, of course, supposed that the little hybrid would have enough strength or skill or whatever to present an acceptable target for now. However, her pitiable attempt to strike him down didn't even connect with his body. His gamble suffering from critical failure, Papa's little helper saw, just like a slow-motion wreckage, his doom appear with the massive fist of 'Her champion' going towards his veiled face. There was no bloodshed nor body to dismember as the robes fell flat to the ground, as the two halves of the golden mask flew across the room. Underneath, nothing – _it_ had disappeared like the morning dew under the sun of july.

A dread silence followed the clamor of battle ; for the hulking brute, that _nearly_ felt like a stolen victory, as his foe was not dead upon the ground, battered and bleeding. He had been cheated of his glory. However, he wasn't fighting for glory. He was fighting for Her, and Her orders were clear enough, suffusing every single part of his being. He was there to kill the hybrid, and kill the stamen. The stamen was dead – now time to annihilate the little one, still gripping the weapon of the dead boy, as a sacrifice in Her honor.

 _ **"Rͩe̯͕̤j̹̪o̖̦i̬c̩͆e̺, l̠̊it͚̫͈t͆͂̂l̜̹ͭ͛ẽ͐ ͉̀one̬. ̯̪Fȍ̜͔̩̅̎r͔̥͖̍͒̏ o̲ͅbl̹͙̜ͨ̑ͫivioͥ̇n͔̖ ͊i̮̬͙̓̇͋s coͮm͉̒i̟̯ͫ͛n̺̔g̓ ͭͮ̚foͭr͎͗ ͎͈͔̇̈ͣy̝͚̩ͨ͋͐o̪̝̟͌̂ͯu̱̎.͍̓ "**_

Zero Two, cowering against the wall, closed her eyes and waited for a blow that never came.

* * *

Far from the meeting room of the flying fortress where Papa and his allies were waiting with bated breath, far from the _other_ meeting room where the red gremlin was probably about to meet her maker, or at the very least become a red smear on the walls and floor, another battle between titans was rumbling outside – for the nettle and the dragon were still in the early moments of their battle when Gladiolus let Ohime alone for a moment. For reasons that, in hindsight, were totally understandable. All of them had their own fights to win, and the blue princess would not be an exception.

For a few seconds, her pounding heartbeat and the absence of her human lover nearly costed her the first move, but she nonetheless managed to come back to her senses before the inevitable clash of the gigantic monsters. Hiro may not be there to pilot with her, but she was still the princess of the klaxxo race, and none would find her wanting. Her tails firmly planted in the cold orifices where a normal pistil would insert her arms and legs, she could feel the ebb and flow of the structure all around her, like a second skin of biometal. This beast had been created with the body of a klaxxosaur, and it would obey her commands. Linked as she was to her ride, her massive blue horn glowing with a newfound intensity, she seamlessly evaded the first blow, riposting with a gout of bluish flames against Urtica. Far from burning and melting the plating, the flames died quickly once in contact with the Nettle's armor, leaving no trace in their wake. The princess frowned and cursed at the sight of such resilience from the back beast in front of her...and, in said black beast, Mayon was smiling smugly. _Reinforced plating._ Unlike her idiotic partner, she had read the little manual Werner had made for the FranXX – a real shame, because the task to pilot the mechanical monster was the role of the stamen in their little partnership. She was there to connect, he was there to pilot. Period. But, once again, him being an arrogant asshole unable to maintain a healthy work relationship causing him to hamper the chances of their duo would probably be a problem again in the future, so she might as well get used to it.

Moreover, 003 – or _Reiza_ , as he liked to call himself in his self-inflated sense of grandeur – did not seem to be in any state to take rational decision. His piercing red eyes were now shining with a purple light as the hatred he was feeling for this flame-breathing creature was overtaking him. The smile he was bearing on his face was neither smug nor happy, only showing his madness and rage as, not giving a single thought about the inferno around them beyond " _I can survive this_ ", he sent the _Urtica_ into a headlong charge, the massive fists of the FranXX, covered in blades and spikes, ready to destroy whatever would stand on his path. Had a tiny little bit of tactical acumen rubbed from Hiro to the blue princess? Did she suddenly decide to pull her weight in this quest for the survival of her near-extinct race, in this mission to save her lover's partner? Or were her actions dictated by raw fear and panic at the view of the enemy lunging for her? Anyway, whatever the reason, she covered the black titan again in blue fire, engulfing it fully in a blazing cloud...and even if these flames would have a very hard time even burning through the first layers of reinforced biometal, at the very least Urtica would not get far with its sensors drowned in this fiery hell.

Ohime's chuckles when her enemy crashed into the trees of the forest around them evolved into full-blown laughter when Urtica's flamethrowers started malfunctioning, their smoke obscuring even further the battlefield for its pilots. Gladiolus herself, her body obeying to the signals her princess was transmitting, opened her still-flaming mouth and let out a chuckling growl, mimicking Ohime's laughter in a creepy, titanic way. The princess, however, composed herself when she picked up a comm directly incoming from the enemies...one of them, a male voice, lost in screeching anger, and the second one, female, full of annoyed bitterness.

" _ENOUGH! I KNOW THAT YOU CAN HEAR ME INSIDE OF THIS, HIRO...THIS SHALL NOT STAND, YOU PATHETIC REBEL, DO YOU UNDERSTAND? SURRENDER OR I SWEAR UPON PAPA I WILL RIP THE SKIN OUT OF YOUR FLESH MYSELF!"_

 _"Shut the fuck up, 003. You are acting like an ass...again. Also, it's 'peel off the skin of his flesh', not 'rip it out'. That's for the heart or the stomach. You ass."_

 _"I AM NOT ACTING LIKE AN ASS! I AM JUST EXPLAINING TO THIS LITTLE RAT WHAT I AM GOING TO DO TO HIM ONCE I AM OVER DESTROYING HIS PATHETIC FIRE LIZARD! AND IT IS GOING TO BE EXTREMELY PAINFUL!"_

 _"Once again, shut the fuck up, or I'll get the knives. Again. Anyway, Code 016, Hiro, or whatever you call yourself these days...This is probably your last chance ; as you've heard, my partner is a bit trigger-happy. So if you surrender now, you could save us, and yourself, a lot of trouble. I can't guarantee that you'll end up alive, of course ; but trust me that's probably a lot better than the other option. So, what do you say? Ready to come back under Papa's guidance and stop this rebel madness?"_

The voice of the woman was oddly charismatic, and full of honeyed words – the future she promised was simple, pragmatic, and was enough of a contrast with the bloodlust of her current partner to make her propositions sound like a good idea, or at the very least an option worth considering, had the person listening to her been a rebel pilot. However, Ohime had spent thousands of years ruling over a kingdom whose subjects had merged into machines aeons ago. She had known the glory of her empire under the stars, and the wars that had led it to its doom. She wasn't there to conquer these pathetic mortals – but she had no qualms with crushing these enemies under her immaculate heel, especially if it was to stay free from the chains of these insolent ningens, whose leaders were drinking away the life force of her fallen brethren and using the corpses of her warriors to build their war machines. Goddamn ningens. Her arms crossed upon her chest, her horn glowing now with the brightness of a tiny blue sun, she projected her thoughts, imbued with all the regal haughtiness she could muster as a princess, in the feeble minds of her enemies. A weird feeling of intimacy and kinship she felt, even stronger than the one she had felt with Hiro, invaded her psyche...however, it wasn't enough to dissuade her from sending her words.

 _Do not worry about my Hiro, you puny ningens._

 _Worry about my wrath. Worry about my vengeance. Worry about my FIRE._

She had given more weight to these last words by, once again, vomiting flames and fury on the whole area. The forest near the Garden was now a burning inferno, a Pandemonium of fire and smoke...But, in the heart of this furnace, the Black Nettle was standing tall, unscathed by the heat, unaffected by the flames – the hellish landscape around it only underlining its massive silhouette better. It would be a terrible mistake to imagine that a little fire would render it inoffensive...one that was made even more manifest when it stepped out of the burning area, still as deadly. From it came another message, uttered by the girl inside with a resigned voice.

" _Alright, can't say we didn't warn you._ "

* * *

It had been nearly two seconds after the moment where the big grey monster should have killed her, and yet the little red gremlin was still drawing breath, as strange as it could be. Her eyes were still closed to the reality of the outside world – did her little mind, focused on surviving longer, decide to increase the length of these two seconds to untold levels? Her curiosity won against her fear : she opened her eyes. She didn't know if it was real or mere delirium, but she saw him. Her prince, her savior. Her _Hiro._

Once again coming to save her. Even beyond death.

Though, to be fair, reports of his demise seemed to have been greatly exaggerated, to say the least. A few moments ago, his chest sported a bloody, gaping hole where his heart was supposed to be, most of his red blood was spilled on the floor and walls of the room, and all life was gone from his eyes. And now...he was back on the business, with something that looked like an oversized blue growth, a pulsing tumor that was almost black, filling the hole in his chest and in his uniform. Likewise, his eyes...his eyes...02 had known his eyes full of happiness and affection, when he had taken her out of her cell and when he had met her again here, in this very room. Now his eyes, their pupils disappearing in the bright blue glow they were producing, were crackling with inhuman energy. Even the blood dripping from his mouth, a reminder of his recent scuffle with death, was now a deep blue liquid. All his being had changed in ways that would probably take years and many more chapters to explain correctly, but the most important thing in this situation was anyway twofold.

First of all, he was alive. Duh. Moreover, he was now grabbing the clenched fist of the former grunt with his own hand, showing no sign of weakness against the rippling muscles of the grey beast. After a second of this show of strength, the gaze of his faceless enemy slowly turned towards him – there was a hint of fear in this gaze, a fear that only met smug superiority.

" _ **Y̟͔̻o̗͐u ͈̿wë̞̩̱̂̑r͌e ͤd͍̾ė̲̻̄ad.̗̆ ̞̤̙I͍̼̥ rip̭̤̲ͩͯͦp̖̓̊ͅe̳̖͑ͥd̯͈̰̊̋ͮ y̪̹̙ͯ̿̌o͙̳u̞r̩̳̄̂ ̝̻̜̋ͩͦh̖̖eͩ̔͌å̀͋r͖̜̉̃t ͥ̚o̥͓̔͐u̘̱̥̅ͥ̓t.͇**_ "

"Well, looks like you didn't rip out the one that _mattered_." the former stamen answered, his voice both soft and more powerful than the storms over the mountains. "Here, let me show you _how it is done_..." he added, in a smile that decidedly was too sharp and too full of fangs to belong to Hiro.

There was a flash of light, and a rain of blood. When 02 opened her eyes again, her prince was standing over the remains of his enemy, who was, at this point, too damaged to regenerate his wounds. Her prince was wielding the weird pointy stick in his hands, and the black ichor dropping off its blade was the proof that he had used it to _annihilate_ – the only word strong enough to describe the levels of violence he had reached in this mere eyeblink – the one who had tried, and failed, to kill him. Even if that weird unholy abomination of a guard had been very close to manage this feat.

How he had taken this _stick_ quickly enough to destroy his enemy but gently enough to make sure that 02 wasn't hurt, that remained a mystery. Anyway, he was there, alive and triumphant, covered in fluids like the apprentice of some infernal butcher.

 _ **Now you're back to the world of the living. Consider this as my dowry of blood as your bride.**_

"I will get you out of here, Gladiolus, I promise." He whispered, holstering the _Mailman_ – whose packages had been, alas, utterly inefficient in this skirmish.

 _ **Don't worry about me, worry about your other partner, about the little one and the princess. I can wait a little more, as long as I'm with you.**_

"You'll always be with me, dear. Now, what are we going to do with you, Zero Two?" he asked the little red goblin, her happiness manifest as, ignoring his bloody body, she was hugging him tight, endlessly whispering his name. Looking at him with a dreamy smile, she showed once again her wide smile full of teeth, before answering proudly :

"Awwi!"

"If you want to, I can get you out of here...Just let me get the data I came here for and we'll be on our way out, promise." he explained, patting the head of the little hybrid. As he was getting up, he felt a sudden pain wrack his body, nearly falling again to the ground. His chest tumor was still thrumming, but most of the pain was coming from his head and abdomen. For a few dreadful seconds, he felt like he was about to die. Again. He waited a few seconds for this newfound agony to disappear, ignoring for now the concerned chirps of 02.

"What the hell...is happening?" he muttered, cold sweat dripping off his brow.

 _ **...Remember when I told you your body was changing? Normally, that would have been a slow, gradual change...I think. Now, everything is coming at you in a span of seconds. Enjoy, I guess.**_

"I am _not..._ enjoying it..."

 _ **Nobody enjoys puberty, master. Especially when it comes at you so fast.**_

Hiro was now sitting down, his head in his hand, as he was trying to focus again. The place was dangerous, and he still needed to get what he was here for, and get out of here fast. After all, of his two blue princesses, one was still in a coma – and her state quickly getting worse – and one was fighting to give him more time. Touching his aching forehead, his fingers felt something...like nubs, or hard bumps, under the sore skin. His heart sank in his chest as he asked, a note of fear in his voice :

"Wait. Am I going to...grow horns, now?"

 _ **By the Horn, I hope so. Heh...by the Horn.**_

"That's not funny..." he groaned, getting once again back on his feet, while 02 was looking at him with a mix of concern and adoration, handing him over what looked like a greasy sandwich overflowing with esoteric ingredients and sauces. The strong aroma of food hit him like a truck, reminding him of his sudden hunger, even as 02 was presenting the meal as some kind of offering :

"Hamberder!" she squeaked again as Hiro took the food from her hand, watching closely his reaction when he started eating it ravenously.

 _ **Aaaah yeah. Grease and salt. Bread and meat. Not the meal I would have chosen, but one we probably need and definitely deserve. So eat, my dear.**_

The sudden surge of energy coursing through his veins as he devoured it made him feel truly alive. Hiro made the mental note to see if such obviously unhealthy and yet oddly satisfying lunch could be replicated in Ohime's kitchen, headpatting the happy little gremlin to thank her. His clarity of mind and focus coming back slowly with this input of food and the disappearance of his pain, he could once again think about what he had to do here. Fortunately, he had access to a command console directly linked to the main servers of APE, still projecting the pictures of the stampede and maiden form of Gladiolus. It was time to see if the old passwords Honey used back then were still able to penetrate the firewalls and other defenses of the secure servers. That was probably pointless...after all, they had defected for quite a long time and there was no way in hell APE would have been stupid enough to keep her account in the servers and...

 _Access granted._

Hiro felt his respect for his former masters sink faster than ever as his former partner's account opened near-instantly. Dozens upon dozens of separate lists, thousands of high-level conversations, tens of thousands of files to open. He stretched his lips in a sad smile when, browsing her _Important Files,_ he discovered a stash of pictures of him that she was safekeeping with the rest of the confidential intel and private messaging with both Werner FranXX and Amanda FranXY.

 ** _How cute of her. Now stop fawning over it and grab the medical files. That's why we're here, right? And not only to kill and maim and shed blood, as arousing as it may be to start butchering feeble ningens. You'll have plenty of times to take pictures once we're out of this place_**.

As expected, the _Medical Stuff – Do not Lose!_ file was with the rest of the _Official but not Interesting_ documents. Or at the very least that was how they were labeled in her workspace. One lonely, single document ; one that was dated from...the day before they escaped. He opened it, only rising an eyebrow in surprise when he discovered its content. A single line of text.

 _Accordingly to the "Information, Medication and Protection in the Hybrid Branch of APE Act", dating from today, the medical files of the Subject of Interest have been scrapped from the servers and given to Code 004. Among them, Code 002, Code 003, Code 004, Code 005 and Code 016. See with Code 004 for requests._

"Heh, looks like we know where to search now."

 _ **Is that so? Who's that Code 004 anyway? Another of your former partners?**_

"Nah, I was supposed to be partnered with Naomi...Code 703 before Honey came along. Weird girl. And if I believe the name of this regulation, Code 004 is an hybrid too. Like Honey, and, well..Zero Two" Hiro said, pointing and smiling at the tiny gremlin, who seemed now very agitated, grunting and yelping as if she wanted to add something to the conversation.

 _ **Your other bride wants to talk, I'd say. Touch her horns and discover what she has to say.**_

"Are you sure it's going to work? I mean, last time...twenty minutes ago at best... there was quite a fair bit of noise between us..."

 _ **Of course, but you went a long way since twenty minutes ago. You became better, and stronger, and closer to our kind. A shame you're not still totally there yet. I fear it won't be as efficient as if you bumped horns with her, but that will have to wait until they have grown.**_

Obeying his blood bride with a sigh, Hiro once again took 02's horns in his hands and closed his eyes. Once again, there was a connection – but oh boy was this one powerful and precise. The flow of information was no longer a blurry stream of feelings and badly conveyed ideas – it was clear, analytical, efficient. In the span of a few seconds, Hiro was made aware of every single fact, every single thing that the little red thing had seen or felt or thought...but, this time, analyzed through the prism of his mind and not her own. A lot of this was obscured, of course. Her old pains and her early life, her despair, her former loneliness. But, more important, he saw how she had been saved, and by whom. He felt the need to

"Mayon...I mean, Code 004. So that's the one who got our files, right? And, according to 02, she's on the field right now with her partner...another hybrid." Hiro, smiling knowingly, felt all the little pieces of the puzzle getting together to form one big tapestry.

 _ **A red one, a blue one, a green one and a purple one. I don't know who are the ningens who engineered those "hybrids" but they need to stop using food colouring.**_

"Technically, I'm an hybrid too now...Or, at the very least, I was clumped with the others in the document."

 _ **Not a vat-grown one, at the very least. Anyway, you know where this...004 lives, and you even have the little one to show you the way if you get lost. So hurry up.**_

Taking the hand of the red hybrid in his own, to her great pleasure, Hiro left the room.

* * *

This day was clearly a bad day for Werner. The old, sinful, decrepit man couldn't believe what was happening on his screens as he was temporarily borrowing the video feed of _Urtica_. On this day, unlike what happened last time, he was able to see for himself and in real time the ebb and flow of the battle. His heart was heavy to see two of his best creations fight each other – but behind his sadness, there was a hint of curiosity. Which one of the gigantic world-breaking colossi would win today?

Their last fight had been...quite predictable, alas. Code 016, a _Negative Code_ against 003 and a disposable partner, like a fuse that was there to die after a few rides? No way in hell for Gladiolus to lose this first battle. But now, the odds had been evened out a bit : 004 was not the usual, run-of-the-mill pistil, and 003 was clearly more careful and less trigger-happy than last time. Maybe a bit of fear? Probably. The presence of his new and improved partner – who was also his boss, in a way – could probably be seen as one of the reasons for this behavior change. After all, the commanding aura that the green-haired pistil projected was, without a doubt, powerful enough to rebuke his edgy persona.

The old pervert took his flask for his old lab coat's pocket, taking a sip and positioning himself in his huge chair for maximum comfort. Now was the kids' time to shine against the klaxxosaur menace.

He was about to take another mouthful of the oily pre-APE liquor when a conference call came. Directly from Papa.

Picking up the call, the old man that APE had nicknamed _Dr FranXX_ sighed deeply when he saw the masks of Papa and his Vice Chief Assistant, and the stone face of Hachi. There was nearly no reason for them to call him, none that he could think of that did not include some kind of disaster. Preparing mentally for what was probably an ocean of shit – no doubt caused by the general incompetence of the APE staff – he composed himself and asked, trying to make his tone as calm and friendly as possible :

"Good morning, evening or whatever time it is up there, lads. How's the day in COSMOS?"

" _Werner, we have a problem, a big one._ "

"If you're talking about two of my most beautiful war-striding creations trying to one-up each other in a duel that may destroy the Garden, I am aware and monitoring it. And seeing as you don't have anything that could be considered a bigger problem, I am sorry to tell you that I am _A LITTLE BUSY AT THE MOMENT!"_ He had screamed his last words, his frail frame shaking under the power of his shouts. A few seconds later, Hachi answered, still as emotionless as ever :

" _Werner. We're talking about a bigger problem. One that can't be relegated to the background like this one._ "

"A...bigger problem? The hell are you talking about?"

" _The rebel went drive-by on the Garden punks and he nabbed the red kid to be his side-bitch. Nigga went full DAB ON THE PATRIARCHY and there's more blood on the curb than your mom after her period. Nigga went straight for the jugular and yellow titles like some Sam Jackson motherfucker and..._ "

" _What Vice Chief is trying to tell you,_ " Papa explained calmly, " _is that Code 016 managed to break into the Garden, and killed quite a few guards. Moreover, he found Code 002 and is on the run with her_. _We don't know his exact position, but he's probably looking for some important files. At least that's what Hachi learned by reading on his lips, right Hachi?"_

" _Yeah, exactly._ "

Without ever realizing it, Werner fell on his knees, all strength stolen from his body. That was going beyond his worst nightmares, beyond the destruction of the Garden and the annihilation of his creations. Losing an hybrid would pretty much reduce to naught his grand plans – as such, he couldn't let that happen. Not today, not in a million years. Never.

He heard the voice of his concerned colleagues ask, through the blur of his tormented mind :

" _Werner, are you alright? Anyway, looks like the rebel is coming towards your department. I don't know what you were intending to do in the next hours, but we can only recommand you to stay hidden. The boy is armed and very dangerous...And by "dangerous", we mean that he already killed more than a dozen guards. So...EXTREMELY dangerous, in fact."_

"...Looking for some important files, you say? You said he was looking for them, right?"

" _Well, yeah. Something he did not find on the servers, apparently. Not that I bugged the Hibiscus conference room, I'm just_ that _good at reading lips, luckily._ " Hachi explained. " _Do you have any idea about what he's searching, Hakase? Battle plans, strategic information, important research about the klaxxosaurs? If we can know what he needs, we can prepare accordingly._ "

Getting up with the help of his cane, the old man declared, with a voice that sounded like it came from beyond the dark veil of death and the oblivion that lied beyond :

"There's only one thing you fuckers decided to scrap from the servers, and that wasn't even for good reasons. The hybrids medical records."

" _Ooh, das rite, HakaseXX. You're so smart no wonder you're a doc and shit._ "

"Luckily, I know exactly where they are. Though to be honest, before getting them and fucking off with you in COSMOS, I have something important to do." He explained, getting back on his chair, ready to give his last orders.

" _Something important, you say?_ "

Those were the last words of Papa before the comms were cut and another channel opened towards Urtica, whose pilots were trying to get a good hit on the gold-and-blue dragon in front of them.

" _Hakase? What do you want?"_

"The plan has changed, kids. Time to get back to the Garden, I'm sending a squad to replace you."

" _What? You want us to let Hiro escape?_ "

"Hiro is _here._ In the Garden. And he has Code 002."

The only answer the hybrids gave was a scream of pure rage, a scream of hate and anger that declared, louder than any mortal word, more eloquent than any speech, the primal abandon that had grabbed their minds in the same moment. Now was the time for the hunt, for revenge and battle. Time to protect and to destroy.

* * *

 _ **At long last, I am back. So, what happened?**_

 _Nothing really worthy of mention. The battle seems to go according to plan._

 _ **...So you're just dancing around this one and hoping it doesn't manage to hit you.**_

 _Exactly._

 _ **That**_ **is** ** _cowardly. Very cowardly._**

 _Sure._

 _ **Is it**_ **at least** ** _efficient?_**

 _As efficient as you find it cowardly._

 _ **Damn, that's efficient.**_

 _I am glad that you like it. As long as we can maintain the stalemate here, that means that Hiro can go unnoticed._

 _ **Huh, about that...**_

 _Did something happen to him while you were away? What happened? Tell me, NOW!_

 _ **He died. And then he came back.**_

 _What?_

 _ **Be a little more careful, that thing nearly hit us.**_

 _I swear to the Horn, if you let him die..._

 _ **I didn't. You should have listened to the second sentence.**_

 _The second sentence was about him coming back, not about him not dying! So you LET HIM DIE, YOU PITIFUL TROLLOP!_

 _ **First off, I**_ **did** ** _bring him back alive and...well, whole. I patched up what needed to be patched up. Including his own beating heart. Second, he nearly has horns now, so I guess something good came from this death._**

 _...Horns you say?..._

 _ **Nearly. The time is growing near, where he will take his rightful place among us.**_

 _Huh. So if we forget about the fact that he died and focus on him coming back stronger...everything is going according to plan. Am I right?_

 _ **You're right about this one. However, there's still a "little" problem. He found another hybrid. A red one.**_

 _Hmm. Looks like these goddamn ningens took quite a lot of time to get their hybrids right. There's a blue one, and a red one...just like the old fairy tales in the klaxxosaur empire. Fate sure works in...interesting ways._

 _ **There's also a green one, according to the memories of the red one. Oh, and Hiro already met the red one and tried to break her out of jail even before meeting us. He even promised her he'd marry her, the little bastard.**_

 _...I didn't know that..._

 _ **Neither did I. But all these...hybrids he promised to love and marry could get in the way of your plans, right?**_

 _Not really. However, we need to talk to him about it. For now, I just showed him a glimpse of the plans who were laid by our kind. He needs to see and understand the whole picture._

 _ **Heh..."laid".**_

 _Shut up and just breathe more fire on this thing. Wait, it is..._

 _ **By the Horn. It's retreating towards their fortress. It had enough...COME BACK HERE, WORM, AND DIE THE WAY YOUR BRETHREN DIED! SHOW US THE WAY YOU DIE, NINGEN BASTARD!**_

 _Gladiolus, enough. There's another group of them coming our way, if your need to kill is so unbearable. We can let this one live...for now._

 _ **But what about honor? About dignity? About the sanctity of battle? Don't these ningens care about anything of this?**_

 _Probably not. You said you bested it once, and now it's fleeing before us. Let's just hope it's because of this beating they've received and not because of other reasons..._

* * *

Meanwhile, in the heart of the COSMOS flying fortress, the situation was...rather bleak. It had been a few seconds since the communication with the old doc had ended, and now the three remaining people in the room were sitting there in an uncomfortable silence, trying not to make eye contact with each other. The only sound now was the weird muffled ramblings of the Vice Chief, talking about esoteric subjects such as money, bitches, gats and guns, every single of his sentences full of occurences of the n-word.

After a minute or so of this awkward situation, Hachi cleared his throat :

"So. I guess we're not going to talk about the way the other guy disappeared?"

"That's right."

"And we're not going to talk about what the hell this creature was?"

"That's right, once again."

"I sense a pattern here...we won't talk about the way Code 016 came back from the dead, who he was talking to, and his superhuman abilities, either?"

"Oh no, we can totally talk about that. I mean, it's not linked to space entities from beyond the outer void that may or may not be battling for the control of this planet and of the souls dwelling here, so it's fair game. So ask away." Papa explained, seemingly relieved to have the stern-looking former caretaker talking about an easier subject.

"Oh. Alright, I didn't think you'd agree to discuss it. Let me choose my words carefully..." Hachi said, staying silent for a few seconds before looking again at the leader of mankind united and taking a deep breath. "So...what the everloving fuck was that?"

"Language, mo'fucker."

"Meh, no need for this now, Vice. Hachi is right to be so distressed. Now, about your question...I guess that you know the theories of Werner about negative codes, right? About how Code 016 probably became more and more klaxxosaur-like?"

"Let's just say I heard a few things. Alright, he's a klaxxosaur, but I don't see how..."

" _Think_ , Hachi. _Think_. What is the first lesson about the klaxxosaurs that you teach the little kids in the Garden for their parasite career?"

"Destroy the core, otherwise the creature will just regenerate...oh."

"Precisely. He went far enough on this path to have a core. A core that couldn't be destroyed during this...well, death, allowing him to come back to life. We may have the next apex of evolution here..."

"That doesn't explain who he was talking to." Hachi remarked, one of his eyebrows arching. "You think he could have allies here? Other parasites, from his younger days?"

Papa took a few seconds to think about it, his humanity-driving thoughts hidden beneath the massive gold mask he was wearing. When he spoke again, it was with his usual calm, deep voice, that had given so many history-making orders :

"Werner and I studied the records of Code 016 for a while when he went AWOL. All the parasites in his former circle of friends got sent to the same plantation – the Cerasus one. Werner decided to make them an experimental team, so that he could keep an eye on them easily...and arrange a little accident if it ever comes to this. So, no, there's no chance that any of them could be helping him. However, if he indeed is going closer and closer to a klaxxosaur...it's quite possible that he could be controlled by their queen, or at the very least in communication with them."

"Hold on for a second...Klaxxosaurs have a queen?"

"Yes, they have one. Even though it would be more accurate to talk about a _princess_. A leader that sends her troops to the battlefield, usually to stop us from extracting Magma energy. She dwells somewhere under the earth, probably crying about her lost civilization...you should ask Werner about her, he met her once. Something like, what, decades ago? A century? Back when the Aussies were nuked. The poor doctor lost his arm that day...and he kickstarted the hybrid program."

"I guess I should go and ask him about it. This seems like the kind of information I should be aware of." There was a tiny hint of annoyance in the voice of Hachi as he got up and started leaving the room.

"I guess so too...Oh, Hachi, wait!" Papa suddenly called, as if he had just remembered something important. "I just remembered something important."

"What is it?"

"It's about one of your requests for your new status as one of us. Basically, we managed to find the funding for a secretary AND a person who could take this role without any problems. With the new Cerasus squad being under Werner's direct control, we have indeed one extra caretaker...She's yours to command now. Come here, my child..."

Hachi barely raised an eyebrow when the young woman stepped out of the shadows. Well, young...Thanks to the power of the the Magma immortality treatment, she could have been more than a hundred years old – but at the very least, she was young-looking and quite pleasing to the eye. Busty, cute, her thick auburn hair cascading down to the middle of her back, she seemed to be hiding her fright behind a tight, shy smile. As all the women working as squad caretakers, she was wearing the dark grey APE uniform, which in her case was emphasizing her feminine curves.

The newest Sage sighed at her sight, mostly because he would have no time to see if she was really able to pull her weight in paperwork-related issues beforehand. _Well...beggars can't be choosers_ , he thought as he motioned her to come with him to the ground.

"What's your code?" he asked, as soon as they were alone in the elevator. That was a stupid question – of course he knew her code. Every male caretaker had the same code, every single female caretaker had the same code. 007, _Nana_ for the women ; and 008, _Hachi_ , for men. Uniformity was lauded – Individuality was frowned upon. Nevertheless, she answered, with a little stutter :

"I...I am Nana, sir. Code 007."

"I'm Hachi. But you can continue calling me _sir._ I have the highest hopes about our new... collaboration. I hope, for your sake, that you will _not_ disappoint me. Do you understand, _Nana_?"

"I, huh, I understand sir. And I hope that you won't shy away from brutal and humiliating corporal punishment were I ever to disappoint you in your very important tasks..." She answered with an uncharacteristic zeal, her eyes shining happily and a blush on her cheeks.

"I am not sure about what you're referring to, but let me remind you that my overall tolerance to such smugness and effrontery is currently very low..."

There was something a little unsettling in her attitude, a streak of mischief that the stone-faced sage couldn't help but despise. Her weird answer, her slight but noticeable arousal at the mention of _punishment_...It could just be the rush of a new role after her time caring for the future parasites, the enthusiasm and loss of inhibition ; just like it could be a true masochistic behavior, a fondness for being punished, tortured, tormented for real or imaginary offenses. In both cases, Hachi did not like that – he was a man of mechanical efficiency and of well-oiled plans, not a mere beast controlled by his prime instincts. However, for her sake, he hoped that was only the former. Sighing once again, he closed his eyes, hoping that this newfound assistant wouldn't throw a wrench in his plans. As the elevators glass doors closed, he was pretty sure he saw Vice Chief throw him a makeshift salacious gang sign before saying something to Papa – but anything that came from behind his mask was to be disregarded anywyay. Clearing his throat, he asked to the woman that now shared his fate.

"Nana, remind me to plant a few bugs in the COSMOS meeting room. Better keep track of everything these retarded monkeys say or do when I'm not here to keep them in check."

"Language, sir."

* * *

It took them around ten minutes to get to the floor where 02's place was located. Not that it was far from the now bloodied meeting room, but their guide, the little pink-haired goblin, seemed to be afflicted with a perverse form of attention deficit disorder, leading her to hug Hiro's leg and babble half a dozen incoherent sentences instead of guiding the former stamen towards their goal. The two or three first times, it had been very cute, but now that the time was running low, he was becoming a bit annoyed by this level of single-minded devotion – that was neither the moment nor the place for this. His smile, however, came back when he heard the loud complaints of Gladiolus.

 _ **She should be glad that I am not in charge of this mission...she would have been thrown out of a window already. I just hope that she won't be as clingy once she's grown, because otherwise there's going to be a lot of trouble in our marriage**_.

"Be glad that she can't hear you, you would break her heart...she would probably start to cry...poor thing, created by evil scientists to be experimented on painfully..." Hiro said, teasing his partner while gently patting 02's head. "You should have a bit of empathy, her fate wasn't so different from yours, after all..."

 _ **Shut up master. Let's just get that file and be on our way. Right now, she's just slowing us with all that...cuteness...stuff.**_

"Don't worry, we will be there soon enough. Beside that horrid beast a while ago, looks like no one else cared about our intrusion. That's a good thing, I guess. Anyway, what was that creature?"

 _ **You're asking me this only now?**_

"Well, I wasn't going to ask it while I was dead, or during the battle, right?"

 _ **You...double ningen. For the record, I don't know what that was...but you destroyed it anyway, so the point is moot. I just hope it's not a ningen creation, because otherwise we're neck deep into manure.**_

"Alright, fair enough. And what about the one it killed?"

 _ **What are you talking about?**_

"You know, the little one. The one who got transformed into dust by the other when I...came back."

 _ **There was a little bit of lag from my end before I could see straight again. You were exceptional, my dear. But what did you see, exactly?**_

"Huh..nothing really interesting. One of Papa's higher-ups being destroyed under the blows of this thing. Got killed so hard there was nothing remaining afterwards."

 _ **What do you mean 'nothing'? No blood, no guts, no bones and scattered flesh?**_

"Well, nothing but dust, and ceremonial robes...Any idea why?"

 _ **We need to talk about it to the princess. But if I am not mistaken, it may be exactly the kind of confirmation she needed before going back to serious business.**_

"I don't see how this could confirm any...Oh. _VIRM_."

"Viiim?" 02 asked, looking at him as if he was talking to his shadow...A poetic picture, built around a kernel of dark truth, but one that was as frightening as she was weird.

 _ **Yes. VIRM. Vampiric monsters from the far realm behind the stars. The Deceivers. The Old Enemy. Every different civilization they met gave them a different name before being destroyed or assimilated into their paradise.**_

"So you're telling me that a emissary of VIRM was destroyed by this guard? In that case, that is ...kind of disappointing that he went down so easily, to be honest."

 _ **IF he was one of their agents, he probably reformed somewhere else. They're beings of pure star energy, mad living stars bent on uniting all souls in their paradise for some grand plan of unity at a cosmic scale.**_

"And now they came back. Just like, what, millions of years ago?"

 _ **Our empire was the only one who managed to drive them back, and only with the power of the Star Entity. The princess probably already told you, but most of our kind united their souls into one vessel, one mass of life strong enough to kill them...and, ironically, realized the dream of our enemies in that newfound union.**_

"That's some impressive dedication." Hiro commented as he reached the door that 02 was showing him with a pout – this time, it was her turn to be annoyed by his behavior.

 _ **Everything to kill them, I guess...Wait. Get your gun, now. There's something inside.**_

She was right, as always. The former stamen could hear it now – there was a faint sound coming from inside the room, and a vague smell of medicine and alcohol. 02 had felt it, too, and she was now growling and showing her bare teeth to this new, yet still hidden threat. There was no way to know if that other intruder was aware of them, and no way to know if it was something hostile ; but now, after what he had been through in the last half an hour, Hiro did not want to risk his life once again by not taking the initiative and killing first what may or may not want to kill him. Weapon in hand, he closed his eyes for one second, letting his being wander closer and closer to the tempting abilities of Gladiolus. All of his senses sharpened by the thrill of danger, he was ready.

Hiro opened the door with a swift kick, and fired three shots in the darkness of the room.

The old man was still rummaging through Mayon's stuff when the bolts of searing energy went through his left leg, throwing him to the ground. The sheer pain and bloodloss – due to having an artery full of holes – would have him go into shock in a few seconds had he been still totally human. Luckily for him, Dr FranXX was already full of mechanical augmentations fated to support him when his frail mortal body would start to fail ; after all, there was no certainty in flesh and bone, only a promise of pain and disappointment. And so, the shots went through his leg, it's true...but said leg was made of metal and cables. As such, its disabling was complete but at the very least, the doc would be free from further injury. However, that truth started to become flimsier and flimsier as he saw the stern, vengeful face of the rebel, the former stamen. Code 016...or, would it be more correct to call him _Code – 016_?

To be honest, the incarnation of vengeance that was standing in the doorway had changed a lot since the last time he had seen him. When was that...mere weeks ago? During the Gladiolus test? He had a hard time remembering the exact day, however...he should maybe stop drinking so much. Despite his sorry state, the old scientist couldn't help but smile at the little creature growling at him, just behind the rebel stamen. Of course, that was probably the main goal of the lad here – after all, it was for this wretched thing, a failure of a clone, that he had forsaken Papa and APE. Trying to get back on his feet, the old man laughed, his voice ever snarkier than usual.

"So...looks like the prodigal boy is back to the nest. You just couldn't stay hidden, right?"

"Shut up old man, or you get another bullet." Hiro answered, frowning and showing his weapon for emphasis.

 _ **The Mailman doesn't fire bullets, master, and you know it. It's some kind of super-heated plasma able to vaporize matter instantly. Though I am pretty sure that there's a lot of bullets in the princess' vaults, in the offcase you'd want to really add weight to your words.**_

"No need for such explanations, Gladiolus...it's just a saying..." he said, a bit annoyed by the weapon autism of his guardian spirit.

 _ **Shit saying. Only ningens are stupid enough to do this kind of stuff.**_

"Alright, honeykitten, let me rephrase it for the old one. Ahem, 'shut up, old man, or you get another dose of superheated plasma, probably in your face this time'. Better?"

"I guess that you weren't talking to me the first time? That only bolsters my theories, kid."

"What theories?" Hiro's natural curiosity had the better of him for a second, and once again, he felt himself coming back to his old self, the young boy from the Garden who spent his days annoying the caretakers and hating on fellow parasites for their uselesness. That feeling only lasted a few seconds, but it was too late ; he had invited the doctor to speak his mind, there was no coming back on these words and shooting him here and now.

"You reached the status of a _negative code_ , kid. You merged with your FranXX – I don't know how – and you came back alive. And now...now you're becoming like them, don't you? Look at you...you can hear her, right? The _princess_? That's why you're not talking to me...you're talking to _her_."

 _ **How does he even know about her? He's wrong though. You're not with her now, you are with ME.**_

The old man looked both confused, sad and happy to understand these truths about Hiro's nature – and Hiro decided not to correct him about his mistake, focused on the heavy stash of paper the old man was carrying in his right hand.

"In a way, I am truly sorry that fate decided to pit us against each other...What a cruel irony, to see someone succeed where I... Bah, anyway. I know why you're here, boy. They told me what you were searching for. The medical files of the hybrids, of course. After all, it's what your princess is after, right? Tell me, _Hiro_... is she still as perfect as the day I met her, decades ago? Are her lithe legs, her blue skin, her dainty feet, her mighty tail, her silver mane...still as profoundly beautiful?"

 _ **ALRIGHT WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THAT NINGEN? THIS IS NOT THE WAY HE SHOULD BE SPEAKING OF A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL FAMILY!**_

"All of that, and more. A shame you will never meet her again." Hiro spat, a hint of venom in his voice. The honor of one of his fair ladies was at stakes now, there wasn't much he could do now, except wash it in blood and guts. Taking the file from his hand in a swift move, he saw the old decrepit doctor closes his eyes one last time, seemingly accepting his fate, waiting for the killing blow as Hiro, without haste, was taking his time to point his gun at his head. Clearing his throat, the former stamen sighed one last time.

 _ **...Don't tell me you're going for a "Here's the reasons why I'm going to kill you" monologue, right?...Right?**_

"Dr FranXX, for your crimes against, I don't know, the princess, Zero Two here, probably the rest of the hybrids and...well, the entirety of the remnants of the klaxxosaur empire...for whatever the hell you did as APE lead scientist, and I'm pretty sure you did a lot of unethical stuff...well, you are hereby sentenced to death. Let's make this quick, and as painless as possib..."

Hiro's sentence was cut short as he felt his own muscles betray him to send him to the ground. He was about to protest about this treatment, when he felt half a dozen knives fly dangerously close to his skin. The lightning fast reaction of Gladiolus had saved his skin again, this time from the throwing daggers of a very angry...green horned lady? Despite the rage that could be seen on her face, she indeed had all the marks of a full-fledged klaxxosaur hybrid, including the polished horns, the fierce, hauntingly beautiful eyes and the general prettiness. Was there something about hybrids and klaxxosaur girls, their horns and teeth and exotic nature, that tickled his own peculiar tastes, or where they just all very pretty regardless of his own inclinations? Well, except 02, but the little red gremlin had yet to reach puberty. Right now, this one was towering over him, holding another handful of knives with a wide, cold smile.

"So, that's what you look like, traitor..."

"Code 004, I presume? You're cuter than I expected..."

 _ **Master!**_

"Mayon!"

The next events happened in a span of a few seconds at most. First things first, 02 jumped at her green-haired caretaker with a surprising agility, landing on her chest and wrapping her arms around her neck in a surprising display of affection – and, more importantly, staggering her for a moment. That sudden impact was all Hiro needed to make a run for it, as he quickly pushed the two hugging hybrids towards the bed, forcing Code 004 to fall flat on her back on the comfy surface with a POMF sound. There were two options for the former stamen. The first one? Heroically snatch the little red gremlin, run for the exit, and get back to Gladiolus' metal frame without losing neither 02 nor the files. The second one would be exactly the same...without ever trying to get the crimson hybrid out to Ohime and her lair. He hesitated for less than a second before bolting out of the room, shoulder-bashing a black-haired lanky guy with an ashen complexion into irrelevancy before starting to run.

 _ **So, you decided to**_ **not** ** _take her. A wise choice, if I may say. She won't slow us any longer._**

"Shut up..." he growled softly, feeling regret already from letting her alone in here. This was the second time already he failed her ; at the very least, from what he had seen in her memories, the time she was spending with this...other hybrid at the very least was quite happy. Now she was fed, clothed, and, if her thoughts had been accurate, loved. Which was still far better than the common parasites in this place. For half a second, he started thinking about his old companions, from the not-so-useless Ichigo and Goro to the absolute tools that Zorome and Fatoshi were. Between them and Ohime, Gladiolus and Honey, the choice was easy. Let the _ningens_ die, at the very least the klaxxosaurs would survive.

 _ **Don't worry, love. We'll get her back one day, once she's old enough to marry you. With a bit of luck, we may even get the green one too...what a day that would be, right?**_

"...Yeah..."

The sight of the haughty, angry emerald-haired hybrid had been burned in his mind, evoking an inimitable reaction in his nether regions. Just like with his first hours with Ohime, he was feeling the need to have her, take her and make her his beloved plaything, replace this anger and arrogance with tender ecstasy.

 _ **Looks like you're already thinking of expanding your collection of hybrids, dear.**_

"I'm...I'm not!" He exclaimed with a slight blush, running down the stairs towards the giant storage places where the FranXX were kept.

 _ **Don't lie to me, dear master. I can feel it in your bones. Besides, you called her "cute" even though she was about to try and kill you... How much you want her to be at the receiving end, this time? To make her pay for being a naughty knife thrower trying to thwart your plans? Maybe even...have the little red one and the green one at the same time, hot and bothered in your bedroom? Once she's grown, of course. Can't have a kid like that going to an good old klaxxosaur orgy.**_

"You're talking about...interesting scenarios, Gladiolus, but we should postpone this conversation. After all, we're not there yet."

 _ **Of course, dear. Of course.**_

* * *

That was not how Mayon had thought the first meeting with the rebel. She had dreamed about a long combat on the battlefield, and an exhausted surrender from his part – not to find him in her own goddamn room, with 02 and the old asshole. Moreover, she had dreamed about bringing him to heel, not getting out-maneuvered, once again _in her own goddamn room_. And with the help of her own charge! Just like Hiro had done a few seconds ago, it was time for her to weigh her options. Charging behind the traitor would be an interesting prospect...but that would mean letting the doctor and her own partner with 02 – something that was utterly unacceptable. Who knew what kind of shit they could engineer if she wasn't her to reign them in? She would probably get back to a skinless little gremlin or some other horrible scene.

Trying to get away from the embrace of said gremlin, she met the gaze of 003, who seemed a bit...disoriented by the situation. For once, his edgy persona had been blown away by confusion, and she nearly had to slap him to make him snap out of it.

"What are you waiting for, you idiot? Just go after him!"

"Wait, was that guy..."

"YES IT WAS YOU GODDAMN MEGA-ASS FAGGOT NOW GET AFTER HIM BEFORE I TEAR YOU A NEW ONE!"

For one lone second, Mayon couldn't help but agree with the angry screams of the doctor, as she motioned the stamen to, indeed, run after their target post-haste. A few seconds later, after he had fucked off to whatever Hiro had decided to run, she kneeled near the wounded old man, assessing his situation :

"Nothing broken?"

"Meh, just a few displaced gears. Nothing that a few hours of maintenance won't fix. I'm hard to kill, lass, you should know that. Nearly as hard as you..." He added in a whisper, hoping for her to not react. 02 was keeping away from the old man, using the bed as a barrier between them, softly growling and baring her teeth at him.

"Do you think he will succeed?" she asked, helping him to get back up.

"To put it bluntly...no. I hope he will, of course, and not only because that Code 016 is a rebel who needs to stop being a thorn in our side. He's an hybrid too, now, a natural one, and to be honest there's a lot we could learn about klaxxosaurs by cutting him open." the old man paused for a second, looking into Mayon's eyes with bitterness, before speaking again :

"But right now? Code 003 is not ready. He's _weak_."

"Can't argue with that."

Meanwhile, the little gremlin, a tear rolling off her cheek, was starting to understand the cruel truth : her prince charming had buggered off, letting her alone with Mayon and the doctor. Once again, he had abandoned her, choosing to get out of this place without her. Something was slowly breaking inside her as she was feeling the full brunt of her newfound loneliness. How long had he been there, with her? An hour? Half an hour? Far too short a time, of course. Enough to make sure she would be crushed under the pain. There was no indication that he might even come back for her. No indication that he had even come back _for her_. Hell, no indication that he might even come back. She had wept for him when he had died, had cheered for him when he was send back to this world. She had given him her food when he was hungry – so why had he left? Would it be their fate now, being separated whenever fate was feeling especially cruel?

She was clinging to 004's leg now, refusing to let her go even for a second. If she disappeared too...no, this thought was too horrible to be even finished. It simply wasn't a possible option, be it now or in a thousand years. She heard through her own sobbing the green-haired maiden call through a squad of grunts to take the old man to...well, any place where he could be treated without leaking oil and other various body fluids anywhere. Or at the very least somewhere that wouldn't be the living place of the two hybrids. For now, her face was gaunt and angry, as she was assuming direct control over the place. The only man here who _could_ , with enough squinting, be considered her higher-up, was now unable to act, and as such Code 004 was the commanding officer in charge of the Garden.

It took the guards a few minutes to come fetch the doctor and give her a quick assessment of the situation. A dozen of their ilk dead, one of them having disappeared, a smear of foul-smelling blood in the conference room, the disguise of one of the Sages...there was powerful fuckery at work here. That event had shown them how woefully unprepared they were to a single-man attack ; with most of the adults in the plantations being brainwashed puppets unable to break their conditioning, and most of the children about to get sent to the Valhalla Project to serve as living fuses for Papa's weapon, finding someone able to conduct such an operation should have been impossible. And yet, APE's plans had been thwarted by a man with a mission, and probably a carefully laid out plan, prepared since that rebel had escaped their system. The spider was foaming at the arrogance of the saurified fly, and all that. Once the guards were away with the good doctor, the door closing before them, the calm, cold and confident persona of 004 came crumbling down in a few seconds as she hugged 02 like a castaway holding to his plank. Patting her head, lightly brushing her pink hair, she whispered softly :

"Shhh. Don't worry, little one. Hiro is gone. He won't touch you anymore, I promise."

"Hirooo...Gon?"

For a second, nothing had importance except her. Mayon forgot everything – any tale that she had told her about her prince charming coming back for her was now gone too, replaced by an overwhelming desire to never let the little gremlin go, whatever the reason, and that interloper Hiro be damned. What had this stamen done for her charge that she had not done ten times and more? She had given her security and safety, comfort and calm. With her, the little red one would be happy. The only thing that _Hiro_ had brought to her was misery, his only legacy was one of abandon. Sure, to 02, and probably to herself, he was as attractive as a flame to the moth, she couldn't deny it – there was a certain charm to his attitude, his well-defined muscles under that strange uniform, his daring behavior. She felt a pang of regret when she understood how, had the events been any different, she may could have had _him_ as a partner. She could have been his pistil, not 005. All those feelings, this envy and disappointment, seemed to come back tenfold when she saw the call of her own partner on her communication device.

" _004? Reiza here. The dirty rebel escaped in a training module, I need your help. Now!_ "

"In a training module? What the hell is he trying to do in a training module?"

 _"He's going to escape, of course... Now come here, quick. We can still get him before he gets away!_ "

Once again, it was time for a painful choice for the green-haired lass. Made to simulate a FranXX and its commands, these massive bots were widely used at the Garden and helped the stamens-to-be get a hold of piloting even before the compatibility tests. After all, even if the pistil's job was to establish the link between the stamen and the FranXX, the stamen still had to know how to operate the controls of the gigantic warmachine. Of course, they couldn't hold a candle to a real FranXX, even the mass-produced ones, and they sure as hell, weren't able to do much against klaxxosaurs. They still were very fast and nimble, that was true. However, the rebel's plan wasn't to attack klaxxosaurs, but to get out of here ; and without a FranXX...so, without her... there wasn't much her hybrid partner could do to stop him. Sighing deeply, Mayon answered after a short pause.

"Alright, 003. You have my _exceptional_ permission to use any available pistil to get him. Don't. Let. Him. Escape." She added, weighing over each word as carefully as if she was throwing knives around.

As soon as the call ended, she returned her full attention to 02, who was starting to fall asleep under the burden of all these emotions. It had been a tiring day indeed, and it still wasn't over. Bringing her to her bed, she thought once again about the dashing rebel that had broken in so brazenly, buckling his swash to grab...what was the goal of such a quest? How and why had he reached her room? Like goaded by her fatigue and stress, she started picturing him bolting in, not for 02, but for herself. Over and over, the sight of his cheeky smile was coming back to haunt her – there was no way for her to sleep now that this gallant _prince charming_ had caused such a ruckus. Moving over towards the fridge, she got one of the energy drink cans chilling inside, cracking it open before feverishly gulping it down in one go. Maybe downing more of the stuff would make her forget about the newfound... feelings growing at the back of her mind. Forbidden, heretical feelings – and worse, her own body, tense like a violin string, started to react to those. Closing her eyes, she pictured once again the bold deserter, isolating herself in the bathroom to...take care of the problem.

 _The night will be long._

* * *

 _With this one, we're now at seven of these abominations destroyed._

 _ **These two will probably be the last ones. Hiro is coming back.**_

 _Are you sure of it?_

 _ **That our prince is coming back? I'm in his head, remember? He should be there in a few minutes at most.**_

 _No, I meant that as "are you sure they will be the last ones?". I trust you enough to make sure he comes back in time._

 _ **Don't really know. There doesn't seem to be any resistance to our departure. At least for now.**_

 _Good. The quicker we get back to our lair with these informations, the better._

 _ **When do you plan to tell him about it? I dropped a few hints here and there when he was...well, just before we**_ **did** ** _it, but he didn't seem to care. He was focused on something else. I wonder what._**

 _...Just before you did what?_

 _ **Just before he used his princely rod to access the secret reaches of my intimate garden and water the red flowers of passion and the germ of budding love with tender care, like only an expert gardener can do. Again, and again, and again.**_

 _He did wha..._

 _ **He came to me...and in me...when he died. And for a few moments, he managed to make my purgatory a little piece of heaven. And then he left, of course – too many things to do in this material world.**_

 _I see. Well, let's hope he won't have to visit you again. No offence, of course, but I prefer my probably-brought-there-by-an-old-prophecy princes to stay alive as long as they can._

 _ **Of course, of course. Anyway, I think he's coming. Be on the lookout, I'm pretty sure some people saw him and are coming after him.**_

 _Are they even a threat at this point?_

 _ **I know that it's your first battlefield...and that, despite what I thought, you managed to do well...but remember, this is not about just us, it's also about Hiro. He's the soft target, not us. They may not be a threat to us, but to him...**_

 _How is he even coming back to us?_

 _ **...Just wait and see.**_

* * *

The place was not pleasant _per se_. It wasn't supposed to be, after all ; the less time the minions of APE, be it guards or caretakers or scientists, spent time here, the better for the rest of the people waiting for their meal. As such, most people lingering here had time to waste in a hot, grease-smelling place where you couldn't shake the impression that most of the stuff you could find in your plate had already been eaten once or twice in the last few months. Werner had people to get him his food, and did not tarry in such places ; likewise for Amanda FranXY, who was so focused on her work that it was the role of a gaggle of subordinates to remind her of some of her vital needs.

However, for a little first unformal discussion in a place where there were probably no recorders of any kind, the fast-food joint that most people only knew as _Papa's Kitchen_ was as good as any other one. Besides, Hachi had grown...accustomed to this place during his time as a caretaker. Here was a good place to plan and think and plot ; and his natural talent for these areas of expertise had landed him a place in the council, after all these years. And now, ultimate recognition of his talent, he had a secretary, who was just coming back with their order : two servings of fries, two dozen onion rings, two burgers. The auburn-haired lass in front of him, starting to eat her greasy fries with the same coy, shy expression she was displaying earlier, was still a mystery to him. A mystery he would have revealed and understood by the end of this meeting. Crossing his arms against his chest, he paid absolutely no attention to her little foot lightly brushing his own, a clear attempt to get his attention and push his buttons in a seductive way...or just a clumsy mistake from her end. As smart as he was as elaborating his plans and sending the gears of APE smoothly running, the human behavior had too many variables to take into account, even for him. Lazily raising an eyebrow when he saw her seductively lick the sauce off a french fry, he cleared his throat and opened one of the files he had brought with him in the smokey diner :

"So. Now that you're part of my _retinue_ , for lack of a better term, I'll have to get you up to speed about the current condition of mankind. Just a warning, before we begin : as the latest member of the council, it's possible that one of my... colleagues decide to capture you in the days to come and torture you until you break and sing every single one of my secrets. A bit of _hazing_ directed at me, if you wish. And, as you probably understand, I don't kindly take this kind of stuff, so in such a case, I can only advise you to die a long, painful, drawn out death in their hands before _even thinking about betraying_ me. Otherwise, I'll have to punish such recklessness, which will probably be longer, more painful and a lot more inventive than any of the stuff these guys will test on you. Are we clear?"

The purpose of these threats was multiple. First, instill in his newfound assistant a sense of dread and paranoia that would be quite helpful during her time with him – both to make sure that she would be careful, and to ensure she would be loyal and hardworking. Second, gauge her emotional reaction to the possibility of inhumane suffering...just to make sure that his impressions during their first meetings were injustified and that she wasn't... _aroused_ by pain. Something that would be interesting, to an extent. However, her reaction wasn't exactly what he was going for : her pupils doubled in size and her cheeks reddened as she was trying to hide her arousal and embarrassment at the threat, who was probably more of a lecherous proposition in her mind. Hachi sighed once again, storing the detail in his memory forever. Now that he knew that, he could use it to his advantage some day in the future.

"Anyway," he continued, "Now's the time to start dumping information about who I am, what I do, how I do it, and why you should do your best to do your job in this...little adventure for the survival of mankind."

Without caring one second for the shocked face of his subordinate, he pulled three character sheets out of his big file, each of them full of eldritch knowledge about forbidden lore.

"You might recognize these three individuals. Well, not _really_ individuals, but...Hmf. Here's Papa, here's Vice Chief Assistant, and here's That Manlet Over There, as we call him in the council. Theoretically, you already know every single one of them, because they're part of the goddamn leaders of mankind. 'Where's the catch?' you might ask...To answer quickly : none of them is human."

Three notes of dramatic music resounded in the foul air of the diner. Fortunately for them, it was only an alarm for Hachi, reminding him of an optional meeting he had opted out of a few days ago ; something about food safety measures, probably.

"Yeah", he said, "All three of them are part of an alien race who came here on bitter business, probably to leave our planet dead and wiped clean of any intelligent life here. I don't know yet how they call themselves, but I know that they're probably beings of pure energy, needing no food nor rest and invulnerable to most human weapons."

Her seductive persona destroyed by the monstrous revelations of the former caretaker, the busty woman was looking at him and at the sheets with a mix of disgust, fear and stupor. Good. At the very least she was probably understanding the situation.

"My goal, to put it bluntly, is to send them back to the far realms they're hailing from, wrestling back the control of mankind from them, and leading humanity to a new golden age without their toxic intercession in our fate, like they have done for more than a century. Understood? Just answer by yes or no, no questions for now. That comes later."

"Y...Yes, I understand. I think."

"Good. Then we can begin."

"Begin what?"

He frowned again, and had the surprise to see her lower her head instantly, frightened by his reaction. Even if physical pain seemed to be a turn-on for her, she at least had the decency to be afraid of a man trying to save mankind from extraterrestrial overlords. Good. Without caring for her question, he took out another sheet from his file, this time about her. A lot of pictures of her were stapled to the piece of paper, some of them in some...disturbing situations. Including one of them, in a pistil suit, where she was clearly doing double victory signs for some god-forsaken reasons.

"I am pretty sure that your mind has been wiped clean at least once or twice and your body pumped full of longevity drugs, like most caretakers. The fact is, your last assignment was to help Werner put together a team of experimental pilots after Code 016...went away without official leave. Which means you dealt with the old man once or twice at least, and that he remembers you, which could be an asset in my...coming plans. That said, that's all for today, we're nearly there. Ready?"

"Ready for what, sir?"

He didn't answer, or at the very least he didn't answer with words. After cleanly putting back the sheets in his file, he finished his drink and jumped. More than just jumping, he lunged at her with a feline agility, nearly landing at her and pulling her to the ground. Of course, he had more important things in mind than the hungry moan of ecstasy she had produced during what appeared like a virile assault on her frail form, or the way her nipples were now hardening under his hands, who were grabbing at her chest.

All of these thoughts were blown away, literally, when the bomb he had planted exploded, as she understood too late that he had just been ducking for cover.

* * *

"HIROOOOOOO!"

"Welp, don't know who this one is, but it looks like he's angry..." the stamen softly commented, running wildly towards the nearest exit of the Garden. As he was about to get out by the same way he had used to sneak in, he suddenly remembered his time as a young, exceptional pilot. These times seemed so far away now, but still, there were memories that shone brighter than others. He slowed down, before changing his course.

 _ **Master? The exit is the other way...what are you doing?**_

"Just finding something...quicker. Gotta go fast, as they say."

 _ **For your own sake, I hope it's not another Raised-Dead.**_

"...It's a bit like that. But only a bit. Let's just hope it's not too late..."

 _ **DO NOT EVEN TRY TO CHEAT ON ME WITH ANOTHER OF THESE ABOMINATIONS!**_

The stamen only smiled, hitting his stride towards the training stations. Three sets of stairs, a few long hallways, and, the biggest problem, _Papa's Kitchen_. Honey had told him about the place, even though she didn't like it – she liked to cook with him after their long training sessions. The place was usually smokey, full of grease and tired APE workers ; but at the very least the people here wouldn't probably try and stop them. He hoped.

To be honest, the people who tried to stop him, did it a dozen meters or so before he tried to even enter the gloomy diner. Fifteen of them, with heavy weapons and body armor. They probably were briefed about what he was capable of, and ready to strike at a moment's notice. However, they were now standing there, pointing every single of their guns at him, even if they weren't firing them _now._

"A plan to rip and tear through them?" he whispered, hoping to get an answer from his bride quickly. These guys looked tough, sure, but he could easily kill a few of them ; however, the sheer number of guns were slightly...unsettling. At this range, in this place, there was no chance to evade _all_ of their shots.

 _ **Without a diversion, not really. With me, you're stronger, and quicker, but even then we're not immortal. Yet.**_

"What about the time you brought me back to life, less than two hours ago?"

 _ **That was a one-time thing. I don't even know how I managed to do it.**_

Hiro was about to respond angrily to this explanation – probably hoping to create a big enough diversion by giving off the impression of a raving madman ranting at the voices in his head and as such catch the grunts off-guard and get away without too much hassle or blood on his hand. However, he heard, behind him, the snarking laughter of his pursuer, who was starting to clap slowly, as if he was enjoying the little chase.

"Impressive. Very impressive. I don't know how you managed to get inside the Garden, _Hiro_...But don't worry, you will tell us everything, in due time. Papa and the others didn't think I had that in me to catch you, to _defeat_ you, but here you are...trapped like a rat in a cage. At long last, I will have my vengeance!"

"Huh. What _vengeance_ are you referring to? Just to be sure." Hiro, saying those words, slowly turned back to face his enemy, the lanky boy he had thrown out of the way to escape 02's room a few minutes ago. The dark eyes of this interloper were full of hatred, a hidden madness revealed at last to the world. For a second, he seemed ready to lunge at the rebel's throat to kill him, before he refocused, answering with a voice who was positively dripping with venom. Even then, his rage was overwhelming.

"You...you don't know? YOU DON'T KNOW? What kind of forsaken creature are you, that you don't even know the name of your greatest, most powerful enemy? That you ignore the existence of your Nemesis? Fiiine. Let's do this the hard way."

Half a second later, the black-haired, cloaked madman had unsheathed his two curved swords, whose edges were shining with an ardent luster, and let go of his red cloak in a wide, dramatic move. Pointing them at Hiro to threaten him, even though there was at least ten meters between them, he spoke again, with mocking manners :

"So, if I have to introduce myself and to explain to you the tragic extent of your failings and miserable crimes, let it be. I am _Reiza_ , Code 003, the Black Nettle, the Amethyst Prince, the most elite stamen to have ever graced the servants of Papa. It was my high honor to be the first one sent to bring you back in chains when you escaped and rebelled...But the pathetic worm that was supposed to be my temporary partner died on me during the first fight with your pathetic stampeding FranXX."

 _ **Is he talking shit about me? I think he's talking shit about me. Why aren't you slapping him across the face for talking shit about me?**_

"Now that we're over talking about me, let's talk about you, _Hiro_. You're not the first to rebel against Papa, but we can give this to you : you're probably the one who survived the longest. Even worse, you allied with the klaxxosaur threat – as such, you're not only a rebel, you're also a _traitor_. Something infinitely more despicable. And as if it wasn't enough to wallow in such infamy by yourself, you dragged with you another of Papa's children, C-code 005. But unlike you, we have no proof that she can't be redeemed."

"Talking about my Honey here, mate?" Hiro asked, genuinely curious about the former relationship between this edgy bastard and his comatose partner.

"SILENCE!" the guy screamed, his grip on his weapons visibly shaking. "You...you never were supposed to be her partner. You stole her..you have no claim on her, you rebel bastard! And as I said...she will be saved, not you."

"So you were the one before me. The incompetent jackass whom she rejected. Well, can't say I blame her, now. Looks like she was right to do so...After all, I _did_ fuck you up a while ago."

 _ **That we did, master. Now let's do it again, and this time let's make sure to finish the job.**_

"You know, every single word that you utter make me despise you even more. That's a feat in itself, Code 016. I would kill you here and now...but first, I promised Papa to bring you back alive. There's a lot that you know and a lot that you need to tell us. And once you will have told us everything and begged for forgiveness, I will kill you myself. Slowly and painfully. You will take _years_ to die, that I can promise you."

 _ **He's wielding boredom like a weapon. And it's super effective. Just get on with it and destroy him.**_

"So...what, you want me to surrender? I mean, you talk and talk and talk, and you threaten, and you drone about your vengeance and stuff, and all the while you're...not attacking. I mean," Hiro added when he saw the loyalist stamen's face warp with anger and fury, "if you want to d-d-d-duel, I can respect that. After all, I have a lady in my head who wants me to bash your skull, and who am I to refuse a lady her little pleasures?"

"YES I WANT TO DUEL AND I AM GOING TO WIN YOU USELESS MAGGOT!"

"Alright, alright, let it be so." Hiro said, unsheathing his own weapon. "I just hope you're not going to cry out for your _Papa_ when you find yourself at the bitter end of an ass-kicking."

 _ **It's so beautifully said, mas...TAKE COVER, HIRO!**_

A second later, the bomb exploded.

* * *

The rebel was just in front of him, preparing his own weapon, ready to be killed – or at the very least maimed, for he needed to be kept alive for his punishment. A squad of guards were ensuring he couldn't escape. And yet, even in this moment of sweet victory, of delicious triumph, fate judged the moment ripe to steal his glory.

Like the fist of a thunder god blowing away a big part of the fast-food joint less than twenty meters away, the explosion sent him to his feet as his immediate environment became dust and smoke. Worse, the rebel, that goddamn klaxxosaur-helping monster, had evaded the fiery blast and was now running towards the half-devastated burger joint, jumping over a few corpses lying in his way. How did he dare fleeing this duel? How could he try and escape his imminent demise? There was no way for 003 to let him go so easily. Not after the last times it happened. Sheathing his blades in a fluid move, he focused on all of his rage and fury to shake off the effect of the explosion and run after him. There was no way he could justify his failure to the others if that worm ever managed to escape.

However, his grand plan of catching the rebel to make the others forget about his previous attempts to catch the rebel was nearly thwarted when, chasing his prey, he stepped into a wayward fryer, that the blast had...pushed away, but not knocked down. An unfortunate, and very painful, setback for the stamen, who screamed in pain as the boiling low-quality grease burned through his suit to cook the hybrid flesh underneath.

Pain, and anger. That was good. Well, of course this clearly wasn't good enough to make him sprint faster, seeing as one of his legs was now seriously damaged. Of course, it would heal – but that would take time, a time he didn't have. Repeating the name of his quarry like an unending mantra, he hobbled towards the other exit of the devastated place, reaching the door just before it was slammed shut by a kick of that rebel. Once again, pain flowed through him as his hand was caught between the door and its frame. And of course, because fate hated him so much, the part that was crushed was the one that 004, his _dear partner_ , had already punctured with extreme prejudice. What a goddamn bitch. Muttering curses, simmering with rage, the hybrid opened the door, freeing his hand and thanking fate anyway for not losing any fingers. Sometimes, you needed to be thankful for the little victories and fleeting moments of luck even in times of despair and failure. Crippled by his injuries, Reiza nevertheless tried to carry on, before looking at his Nemesis and being struck by a frightening revelation : not only did his enemy run faster than him, but now he also was dangerously close to the place where the training engines were kept. Sure, these had a limited on-board energy supply, but even that would probably be enough to let this monster escape and go back to lick his wounds with his monster friends...and probably his stolen partner too. The hybrid had no choice here but to call for backup ; it was already difficult enough to chase him alone, but if that Hiro decided to take one of these, it would be downright impossible. Growling with anger, he decided to reach his own ride, his beloved _Urtica_ before the hybrid could get out. However, there still was a tiny problem to solve...namely his own partner. Taking his comm device out of his pocket, he called her.

She needed to be there for this battle. The fate of the world, or, at the very least, of _his_ world, depended on stopping this monster – and without her, there was no hope to stop him in time.

* * *

How many had been destroyed today, on this very battlefield? Depending on who you planned to ask this question to between Ohime and Gladiolus, there were two possible answers : either _too much_ or _not enough_. The bloodthirsty soul inside the biomechanical titan was still howling for blood, even as her monstrous form devoured the innards of its last victim...well, "innards" may have been a harsh word. But these Raised-Dead, as both of them called the FranXX that had been sent against them, had been living creatures before, monsters whose corpses had been defiled and remade in this sinister parody of life. And, worse than that, the _ningens_ that made them used the life force of their other brethren to power them. Truly, these feeble creatures were, on a cosmic scale, a mistake.

However, despite the ungodly weight of their crimes, Ohime was starting to get tired by the fighting. She had spent millenia in relative isolation, sending her minions to battle and waiting in her underground lair the next moves of the ningen civilizations. All this ruckus, all this blood and spilled guts, all the destroyed lives and broken bodies, were starting to take a toll on her weary soul. Above everything, she was wishing for her prince to come back to her, with the files that would save his other partner. Truth be told, that wouldn't probably be their only utility. There were many secrets of the ningens that the princess coveted, eldritch secrets that these documents, with a bit of luck, would reveal.

 _ **Don't worry about him. He's coming back to us.**_

 _At long last. Looks like we'll be home soon._

 _ **Don't let your guard down. Sure, he's coming. But he's not coming alone.**_

 _...When is he supposed to come back already?..._

 _ **Soon. Just...about...now.**_

The ancient warrior was telling the truth. As soon as she had said those words, one of the massive doors of the Garden was blasted open, letting an...interesting newcomer escape the place. Yellow as a canary and only around five meters tall, the training bot emerged from the tear in the metal gates, running towards freedom and towards its monstrous ally, its small but powerful legs and his sturdy structure bringing him closer and closer to its goal. At the sight of this creature, which was indubitably her favorite stamen coming back, Ohime couldn't help but let out a squeal of joy and surprise. Even with the constant updates of Gladiolus about his state, that was nonetheless a comforting sight to see him still alive, and still kicking ass.

 _ **I told you he was coming. Like the glory...**_

 _...Of the morning on the waves, I know. Now let's end this bloodshed before one of us gets hurt._

 _ **Before**_ **he** ** _gets hurt you mean. As I said...he's not alone. His foe is marching on, too._**

Once again, she was right as, just like an old drink mascot, the massive silhouette of Urtica burst out, completing the destruction, in a titanic effort, of the gates that Hiro had breached. Even if the frame of the black FranXX wasn't the nimblest one among its peers, its sheer speed and power, especially compared to the tiny training bot that was rushing towards Gladiolus. It took the Nettle only half a minute to reach it, the hybrid stamen inside howling his fury and his thirst for vengeance, that was about to be sated. For a second, the gigantic spiky beast was towering over its prey, its pilot gloating in mad, frenzied laughter.

"IT IS OVER YOU PATHETIC WORM! YOUR EXISTENCE ENDS HERE, PAPA'S ORDERS BE DAMNED TO HELL AND BACK!"

As he was preparing for the final blow, he of course forgot for one second that he wasn't alone on this bloody battlefield, as the charred corpses of the other FranXX were displaying quite accurately. However, to be honest, even being primed and ready for it wouldn't have been enough to stop the furious assault of Gladiolus, who in that moment, moving with preternatural accuracy and blinding speed, was more akin to a thunderbolt, an arrow of pure light and vengeful intent shot by the bow of a wrathful god. Knocked prone, pushed nearly a hundred meters away, 003 had to witness with surprise the massive dragon-like entity plunge its massive jaws into the training bot, ripping and tearing through it. He smiled slightly – no living creature could have survived being devoured like this.

He was wrong of course.

 _Welcome back, my prince._

"Thanks, Ohime. Was such a...grisly display necessary?" Hiro asked, taking his righful place in the stamen seat of Gladiolus after being...swallowed by the massive mouth of the dragon. He gave the princess a quick hug from behind and a little nape kiss, earning a mental sigh from Gladiolus at these unnecessary displays of affection.

 _ **Who the hell cares, as long as you're here and well. Now just get that connection running, inhibitions crumbling and all that stuff.**_

 _Not so fast. Do you have what you need?_

"Alright, alright, just let me check everything...the full Hybrid Medical File, check. The _Mailman_ , check. The _Crimson Lotus_ , check. Yep, looks like everything is here, we can get out of here. Don't ask me how I managed to hold to everything, I have no idea myself."

 _Power of the plot, I wager._

"What?"

 _Just joking. Gladiolus told me that you had to hold on to your life too, by the way._

"Eh, nothing that she couldn't solve. Anyway, let's go, Ohime. And Gladiolus."

It is fair to say that of all that day's painful moments for 003, this one was probably the most painful, both for his body and for his pride. Once again, his confrontation with his Nemesis had ended with his virility and honor in shambles. With Code 004, he had managed to hold his own before learning about Hiro's intrusion in the Garden, but now...the pathetic pistil whore that he had strong-armed into being his temporary partner was clearly not powerful enough to unlock the full potential of Urtica ; the dark construct, the apex of Dr FranXX' creations, needed outstanding pilots to show its full power. As such, he could not react quickly enough to dodge the attack. Once again, as always, his partner's fault, and now he was pretty sure that the FranXX' psychic feedback had broken a few bones in her body. At least, for her sake, he hoped that was the case – otherwise, her screams of pain had no real reason to be, and he would probably need to break some of those still unbroken bones to teach her a well-needed lesson about keeping her third-rate pistil mouth shut in such stressful moments. After all, he had _carte blanche_ to act in this situation – 004 did say so.

The second problem, besides his FranXX having been thrown to the ground, was what was happening to his enemy. Its biomechanical flesh rippling with crackling energy, Hiro's dragon was now changing, shifting the unnatural klaxxosaur form towards something more humanoid, and oudoubtedly more powerful – after all, the stampede form of a FranXX was _always_ less powerful, right? However, the black and blue entity that was now standing on the battlefield was...different. It still looked like the maiden form of the _Gladiolus_ that Hiro had stolen with his partner, of course, but there was something weirdly alien to it, as if this perfected scion of the klaxxosaurs had been changed, _corrupted_ by the unholy alliance between his stamen and...whoever, or rather, whatever he was using as a pistil in this battle. In a flash, 003 remembered the female voice in his head, the words of this enemy. _Do not worry about my Hiro._ Was it...no. 005, _his_ 005, wouldn't condone, let alone participate in such an assault against all that humanity was holding dear. The hybrid tried to get his robot up again, drawing deep into the vanishing energy of his temporary partner, as Hiro's machine was continuing to change. Emerging from its back, there was now a massive black tail, about as thick as the arms of a normal FranXX, its head was wearing two massive antlers like a king would wear a crown, and the keen magma blade that it wielded was now sporting a long, nearly spear-like haft. Without these ultimately minor details, this new and enhanced version of Gladiolus could have been, well, just another FranXX in the armies of Papa and APE. But it wasn't, obviously. 003 and his now half-dead partner could only watch in horror as the tail of the enemy separated into eight distinct parts, each one of them a fully functional one...and, a few seconds later, as that dark enemy was extending a hand towards Urtica, 003 heard his pistil scream in agony and pain, far louder than previously. He felt fear and helplessness as the commands stopped responding, the limbs of his FranXX contorting in unnatural positions, like twisted by the eldritch magic of this enemy. Suddenly, the voice was back in his head. A thousand times stronger, so loud in his head that his ears started bleeding – and beyond the feminine voice he had heard, there was also the mocking voice of Hiro and another one, angry and vicious.

 _ **I CAME BEARING THE WORD OF THE OLD ONES**_

Urtica was shaking now. Whatever Hiro and his klaxxosaur friends were using, that was bloody efficient at disrupting the inner mechanisms of the FranXX. Probably an unexpected side effect of using reverse-engineered dead klaxxosaurs as weapons of war ; they seemed to be quite sensitive to this kind of regal commands. There was no doubt that Hiro had found powerful allies in his fight against mankind and what APE was standing for. As the hybrid stamen was about to shout his hatred, focus on his fury as a shield against that attempt to break his mind, the words came back, even louder, carrying with them their promise of annihilation.

 _ **AND THAT WORD IS 'BEGONE'**_

There was a loud cracking sound, as the Nettle, a shadow of its former spiky glory, was suddenly dismembered and tossed aside as a broken toy, falling down to the ground as all its systems critically failed in a flash of blinding red light. The screams of the pistil, inside the cockpit, suddenly stopped, and her body fell to the ground, inert. Even 003 himself, despite not sharing that direct link to his FranXX, fell into inconsciousness, his impotent fury drowned in a pit of pitch black darkness. _Again_.

* * *

"Sooo...is someone going to start talking? Because I don't care if it takes a few more hours before we start discussing what happened today." Papa explained calmly. "I am just going to ask it again... _what the hell happened today_?"

The people in front of him and beside him didn't seem to be happy to be there, except of course his devoted Vice Chief Assistant. Werner seemed to be in a weird trance, Code 004 was as stern as usual, and Hachi was an emotionless stone wall. As Papa was about to sigh with despair before this assembly of mute fleshbags, he heard the Doctor mutter something under his breath. As an avid hint-taker, the leader of mankind pounced on this occasion.

"Could you repeat that, Werner? I'm not sure everybody heard you..."

"I said : 'She's coming back'. After all those years, I thought that I would never witness her direct influence again..."

"What are you on about, Werner?"

"The princess. She's coming back on the battlefield. With Code 016, she has found a mate. A champion that could carry out her orders...and destroy us, once and for all. If what the _Urtica_ recordings are true...let's just say death isn't enough to stop her subjects from obeying her commands." His voice was broken and raspy, his still-organic hand shaking. Besides the disabling of his leg, he had suffered no injury during Hiro's intrusion – but it was clear for anyone looking at him that that event had taken a heavy toll on his mind.

"So, this is worse than what I thought." Papa's voice was deep and calm, as he turned towards both Mayon and Hachi."I guess it is time to explain to you the truth about what kind of enemy we are talking about, with a little history course. Werner, if you may..."

"A history course about the klaxxosaur princess about whom I know absolutely nothing, whom Werner met decades ago in an encounter I know absolutely nothing about, and who produced the genetic material that helped create the hybrids, about which I know absolutely nothing beyond what I'm supposed to know as one of the Sages? Am I not mistaken?" Hachi asked politely.

"I'm pretty sure you're not up to date about a lot of things, Hachi."

"Well, you should just make sure to grant me a legal access to the top-clearance stuff. I wouldn't like to hamper the struggle for mankind's survival by my ignorance of very important secrets that I obviously don't know already."

"We'll talk about legal matters later, now's the time to listen to the old man," Mayon explained coldly, before turning towards the Doc. "So, Werner, what's this all about? Who is this _princess_ , what is her relationship with Hiro...I mean, Code 016, and, at last, what's this stuff about genetic material?"

"Alright, alright. First off, kids, you do need to understand that all this stuff is old, even for me. Basically, everything started when Papa and his mates, like Vice here, contacted me a few months after they managed to discover the tech to extract Magma energy from the earth. Around...I don't know, a century ago? A century and a half? Anyway, I was a young and dashing young scientist, back then...After meeting them, I decided to help them work on an immortality treatment with this high-energy stuff. The rest of the story, you know it, probably: after becoming immortal, mankind turned towards the plantation system to survive, the earth started to die, and all that shit. And that was even before we discovered the klaxxosaur threat. As you all know, the FranXX are created from klaxxosaur parts, but, well, there was a time where mankind didn't know how to deal with these pesky bastards...they're notoriously hard to kill. Luckily for us, they never attacked _en masse_ and always targeted the Magma extraction points. During the first times of this war...the Sages told me that they had found the leader of their race."

The old man paused for a few seconds, just the time for him to take his flask and feverishly gulp down the mysterious liquid, like a thirsty street urchin discovering a providential water fountain in a hot summer day. His thirst sated, he put down the metal bottle, going on with his explanations.

"Of all the days I lived through since these ancient times, this one is the one I will remember until my last moment. I was sent with a squad of elite soldiers in her lair, with two missions. The first one was to assess the nature of the threat, maybe even neutralize it, and the second mission was to bring back a DNA sample for analysis. To be honest, APE underestimated the threat by a mile, and the squad was ambushed and killed in a few seconds after we entered her place. I was the only survivor, and as I was brought before her...I was instantly... Hum, let's just say I will never forget her. She detected on me the smell of her dead brethren, and decided to render her judgment by ripping off my arm and sending me back to bring her message to mankind." The doctor explained, showing his state-of-the-art prosthetic arm. "That was the last time she acted directly until today – her troops are one thing, but sending a champion to destroy us from inside..."

"So, the klaxxosaurs have a leader. Big deal, what's the difference? Also, why a DNA sample? For what purpose?" Mayon asked, her brow furrowing at the labcoat-clad scientist.

"A simple question, and a simple answer : to create you and your brethren, Code 004." Papa answered. "We thought that, since the FranXX were based on the klaxxosaurs' bodies, a human-klaxxo hybrid would be able to go even further beyond the results of the teen codes. This experiment brought us four hybrids. You, Code 002, Code 003 and Code 005."

"Cut the bullshit, Papa, I already knew that I was a klaxxosaur hybrid. The green horns were a good clue, don't you think. However, I didn't know that I was created from a klaxxosaur _princess_." She lashed at the leader of mankind. "Anyway, now that this plot point was cleared, what is the next step in your master plan? We go after that definitely-not-sexy rebel and his übercharged stolen FranXX?"

"He fucked off and there's no indication about where he could have gone. No satellite or radar images of any kind."

"Let him run for his life for now, Hachi...there's something more important to discuss right now. About your last project, Werner. The _Initiative Nine_."

"Well," the doctor responded, "I think I made some...interesting progress on it, thanks, ironically, to Code 016' intrusion. True, he managed to make off with the hybrid medical files, who were one of my main basis on this project... _Something that could have been avoided if we didn't decide to destroy all the others copies to fulfill a non-existent need for secrecy..._ but, due to him bleeding quite a lot during his fisticuff in the conference room, I have now a stable matrix that seems able enough to hybridize with the already-cloned cells of the existing hybrids."

"What do you mean? For fuck's sake, if you want to use 002 again for your experiments..."

"It's either her or you, lass. Had I the choice, I would have used 005' DNA – she was the best of y'all horned kids, and, very important, the most stable. I refuse to use 003 for this, because he's not stable enough for this. If I am to create a new generation that will be able to stand up to a negative code allied with the klaxxosaur princess, I won't do it by giving a chance to the genes of the worst of all hybrids."

"So...just to make sure...you want to use my own genes to create, what, the _New Nines_?"

There was a heavy silence for a few seconds, before the doctor, a hint of despair in his voice, answered.

"Yes."

"Alright, but _I_ will command them. Not you, not Amanda, and _definitely_ not my partner."

"Granted," answered Papa. "As long as you'll make these hybrids the finest warriors of APE, a bulwark against terror, the best defenders of humanity that this world have ever seen. I want soldiers who eat Lehmann-class klaxxosaurs for breakfast, who genocide Goblin-class and who could go toe to toe with a Balaur-class without soiling themselves in fear. I want elite pilots. I want them to make the people of Earth forget about the failures of Code 003 and to look in awe at these new idols for hope and guidance. I want them to become what Code 016 would have been had he not defected. Mankind needs heroes, now more than ever..."

"Sorry to interrupt you, Papa, but I had a question for Werner. How long until these new _heroes_ are ready? I mean, we can't wait years before having new worthy defenders – especially now that the klaxxosaurs have a champion." Hachi asked, trying to keep notes about the meeting. Once again, the old man took his time to answer, weighing internally every single option before talking.

"Six months. In six months, I can have them prime and ready. Including the training time with 004. Also, speaking of which, it seems to be time to start educating 002 about the parasite life...something that I won't take part in, of course, it's your responsibility to make a pistil out of her, lass." He added as Mayon seemed to be ready to hit him in the face with great anger.

"Let it be written...let it be done." Papa concluded, seemingly weary of this meeting. Dark times were upon them after all. He watched silently as the three others were leaving the room, as the path towards the next step of history was put in motion. His old enemy had survived, unscathed by his new weaponry, and she had even managed to draw first blood in this battle. Now was the time to get serious.

 _Now it begins, princess._

* * *

"Now that you have these files, are you sure that it is going to work? Are you sure you can save her, Ohime?"

 _Huh? Oh, yeah, I am. This old bastard was smart, that I can give it to him. Evil and sinful, but smart. His discoveries and experiment logs are...unsettling, to say the least, but at least they will be useful. If I had these a century ago, these ningens would have learned their place by now._

The trip back to her lair...well, to _their_ lair, now...had been quick and uneventful. Both of his wives were positively glowing with pleasure at the fact that, not only he had cheated death and come back with what they needed, but he also had made a few more steps on the golden path that would end with him as a prince of their species, leaving his old mortal, human status behind him. The day was closer, where he would sit on the old obsidian throne and rekindle the fire of the old klaxx race. Once arrived, they had decided to tend to the more important matters first, which of course excluded going back to their bed for another round of hiding the sausage – right now, they needed to eat, and they needed to bring Honey back from the dead. Fortunately, of the fifteen hours Ohime had predicted before the point of no return, less than ten had passed. As such, they had eaten, a lot. Hiro wasn't just hungry, he was utterly ravenous, devouring five or six servings of food before being sated. Another side effect of his newfound mutation, Gladiolus had remarked then. The horns, the enhanced bodily functions, and all the stuff that separated the old race and mankind...all of these needed energy, an energy that the princess had been very pleased to provide, through strange meat and mushrooms from the deepest reaches of her domain.

Right now, however, lunch, or dinner or whatever meal that was supposed to be at this hour, was over, and it was time to heal Hiro's first partner.

"What do you mean?"

 _I could have done the same thing he did, though in a...different way. Just like what your "apes" did when they created these hybrids, harnessing the power of my own blood and cells to have better pilots ; except I'd do it to create spies and infiltrators to destroy the humans from within. Though thinking about it is pointless now, my prince. I have no need for other champions now that I have you._

"Glad to hear it. Now, let's get to work, shall we? We still need to wake her up and to tell her what happened."

 _Of course. Could you just...fetch her something for when she comes back to herself? Food, water...you know where the kitchen is now, so just suit yourself._

"I'd prefer to stay close...For when she comes back."

 _Don't worry, she's not going to wake up instantly. Besides, I need all of my focus for the injections, and I'd prefer for you to be away for the first steps._

"Alright, alright. I'll be back in a few minutes." He finally conceded, leaving the room as she was checking her medical equipment. After all, the pantry wasn't _that_ far, he clearly had the time to go there and get something for his beloved, right? In normal circumstances, that would have been right. But that weren't normal circumstances – and his body gave him a sudden and violent reminder of this simple fact when he entered the kitchen. He just had the time to open the door of the room before a violent, excruciating pain sent him to his knees. That was no ordinary pain ; his brain was burning, his head was about to explode, his skull suddenly was feeling a few sizes too small for what was dwelling inside. On all fours, unable to move, about to retch, Hiro could only beg for his suffering to end.

"G..Gladiolus. Help...me...Too weak..."

 _ **I am sorry, my poor dear prince. Trust me, nobody enjoys this part, but it's for your own good. It's not like you expected the most important organs of a klaxx male to get out in a few hours of time without a little bit of pain, right?**_

Hiro didn't answer, both because he didn't want to and because he couldn't. For the first time since he had met Honey, he was experiencing helplessness – a feeling that he didn't like very much. However, that wasn't the only feeling that he could experience at this moment ; pain was still there, even though it was starting to become more focused, less diffuse. He could feel, beneath his brow, the unstoppable march of his genetic transformation, which for now was akin to a pair of red-hot pokers just under his forehead. His skull was deforming with pointy growths of reinforced bone – and yet the worse was to come, as these had not broken skin yet. He would have screamed his pain if he had enough strength, feeling his blood start to drip on his face and to the ground. He whimpered when his growing horns started to pierce his flesh, unable to appreciate the fact that his very blood staining the rock under him was now of a very pretty azure color. Without a mirror or another reflexive surface, there was no chance for him to see how the corners of his eyes were now bearing the same markings that his first partner had displayed, or that his eyes themselves were now burning with an eldritch, inhuman flame. How long he stayed there, a broken husk on the stone ground, he had no idea.

And then, as quickly as she had stricken him, the pain disappeared, fading back to nothingness like a nightmare in the morning as a sudden vitality invaded his body like a . His newfound horns were no longer an agonizing burden, but a part of himself. As he opened his eyes, that he had closed during his fit to try and forget about the pain, he felt the world around him more keenly than ever. His surroundings were clear, as if a veil had been lifted from his gaze – and more than merely seeing them, he could perceive them with an accuracy that he had never imagined possible. Even the faint presence of the other klaxxosaurs, the ones that had traded their normal life for an eternity as war machines for the princess, he could feel them beyond the horizon, the same way he had been feeling Gladiolus at the back of his head for a while now. Getting back up with a lot of cursing, he tried to touch the warm, smooth surface of his new horns. Nearly thirty centimeters of dark blue cristalline ivory, protruding from his forehead like the ones that Honey, 02, and the green-colored caretaker of 02 were sporting.

 _ **Awoken at last, my prince. Do not worry, the worst is behind you.**_

"Is...is that so? No other painful surprises like this one?"

 _ **Nothing as painful, at least. Our species only has two horns, remember? Now get yourself something to eat. I know you have to bring something to your mate, but until your... changes are totally finished, you should make sure that no munchies ever get unfulfilled.**_

"Is that part of the ancient klaxxosaur wisdom? Eat, and don't care about the consequences? I just hope you don't mind me turning into Futoshi." He muttered, getting himself a pot of honey and two loaves of bread : one for him, the other for...well, for Honey. "How does this bread get here anyway?"

 _ **Probably automated factories. Remember when the princess told you about setting everything for when her race could be brought back? Also, you're not going to turn into a blob of greasy flesh any time soon – there were no fat klaxxos back then.**_

"Enhanced metabolism, I wager?"

 _ **Nah, we just killed all the fatties...Of course it's enhanced metabolism, dear. We were a superior race after all, compared to those lousy ningens. Besides, I am sure that you will get thorough...workout sessions in the days to come.**_

"I guess that's because you want to make sure that I don't get killed any time soon, and as such will be nagging me for more and more training sessions so I don't need your help to come back from the dead again."

 _ **You know, playing the dense but lovable idiot ningen boy is only going to get you that far. You need to murder that attitude and get yourself to act like a prince. Like the prince you are now. A warrior. A ruler. A mastermind.**_

"A mastermind in a FranXX, huh?"

 _ **Say these words again in this lifetime and I'll tell the princess you're into being whipped during your next "workout session". Now, get that food to the third participant of tonight's tryst, you half-ningen.**_

Carrying the food, Hiro hurried back to Honey's bedroom. Alas, he only had the time to open the door before he was violently pushed back against the wall, with enough force to make it crack. Sighing deeply, he tried to get back up, not even surprised by the fact that the impact had left him, his bones and his spine more or less intact.

"Not again..."

 _ **Yes, again. Once more into the breach, dear master.**_

* * *

In times long forgotten, this place had been an old sanctuary, a place where the races of yore – so basically the klaxxosaurs – were coming to honor their deities, demigods and guardian spirits. Horned gods and primordial forces were celebrated here through offerings, of flesh and blood in the ancient times, of mere prayers in more recent eras. Though "recent" or "ancient" in that case were very relative concepts, seeing as the old civilization had disappeared during the VIRM wars tens of millions of years before the coming of Hiro. And yet, despite the aeons that had passed, the place was still intact. Its ground was still polished obsidian, bearing the markings of the ancient cults that had prayed and worshipped their idols there. And of course, the well, which had never been not much more than a deep hole, was still there, its water quite hard to see in the surrounding darkness.

Of the old shrines and older temples of the klaxx race, this one always had a special status, attracting only the mad and the desperate, those whose only hope was lying in the depths of this well. For the beings that lurked in these dark waters were supposed to be very old gods, of the kind whose help was always a double-edged weapon.

And yet, that was in this godforsaken place that, obeying an order that was still a mere whisper in the wind, he had come. He was no more than a battered and broken spirit himself, a faint, shattered memory of a grander fate. And yet, even in death and annihilation, he had refused to let such a situation be such a hurdle. He _would_ accomplish his destiny.

He would do it for _her_ , no matter what. As such, he had come for _her._

As he was closing in towards the well, he felt _her_ presence more and more distinctly. This place was not only haunted by old gods and primordial darkness. _She_ was there too, and _she_ was calling to him. Even with his soul washed from every part of his old human nature, he could feel a chill of fear run through his being as he looked down the everstill abyss – as if it was looking back at him. Nevertheless, he persisted.

It took him hours to climb back the cliff to the shrine. He had been brought back, his old strength going even further beyond the previous gifts of his mistress. He was still a hulking brute, but this time no mere mortal armor covered his body. Every single plate of metal, every single spike or horn or claw, everything was part of the new body that his mistress had given him. He had been strong ; but now he was _stronger_. And through the bone plate that covered his face and mouth, he could now, after this climbing back to the light, see _her._

To a normal human being, she would have been perceived as a hideous mass of tentacles and hatred, a stygian relic from ancient times that had no place in this world. She was madness and evil incarnated in a physical, slithering body, a glimpse of unearthly malevolence that had no place in this world. She wasn't supposed to be, _and yet she was_. She was the World Serpent, the Old Snake, the mother of monsters, the Gorgon of the ancient myths, the primordial force behind everything wrong in this universe. Normal human beings witnessing her in all of her corrupted glory would have clawed their eyes out screaming before, probably, trying to end their life in the waters of the well – as even a certain death in this dark abyss would have been the best option, compared to a continued existence after _this_. But he wasn't a _normal human being_. He was one of her children, born, _reborn_ from her volition and power. He kneeled before her, lowering his head in deep respect, before hearing her voice again. That was no mere whisper or figment of prophecy. That was her true being, distorted like light going through the prism of her inapprehensible nature.

 _You live again. More powerful than ever. Rise, my champion, as your work isn't over._

"How may I live to serve you?"

Even his voice seemed to have changed. He wasn't just a human vessel for her power – the change was now complete, and he had reached perfection. Him and _Her_ were totally, utterly, completely attuned to each other with this new rebirth of his.

 _You will understand soon_. _For now, meet your new sisters_. _Come forward, my daughters._

He turned his head towards the shadows near the altar, seeing two people coming out of the darkness. The first one was a busty woman, still wearing a lab coat and a stern look. Something in him awakened at her sight – a remnant of an old memory from his past life, maybe? - something that he crushed without any mercy. The old times were supposed to be forgotten : right now she was just another servant of his Mistress, one he was supposed to protect and help. The second one was another women, though a lot younger, nearly a child, and yet there was something in her eyes that scared him. This one, just like him, had gazed into the Abyss, and she hadn't flinched when the Abyss had looked back. One of her arms had disappeared, replaced by an eldritch mechanical contraption, halfway between living metal and advanced technology.

 _Here they are. Amanda and Naomi. My two other heralds in the end times to come._

* * *

Hiro was torn between surprise, euphoria and sheer terror – also a bit of relief when he saw that the honey jar was intact. First things first, even though she had sent him flying in the wall with a too-mighty-to-be-totally-natural kick, well, Honey was alive! Alive and kicking, he could have said, if the situation wasn't so dire for him. Of course, once again he couldn't help but marvel for a second at her beauty – forgetting even about the fact that Ohime seemed to be unconscious in the room behind her. That was the first time he had seen her move since he had accepted to bond with Gladiolus, in a time that now felt like an eternity ago. And gods was she beautiful – a shame this perfect sight was tarnished by such weird circumstances. While taking care of her, Ohime had taken off her pistil suit and got her a white camisole, which left her arms and legs bare for the world to see. Of course, they were totally unblemished, safe for the pinprick were the princess had injected her own blue blood, a drop of it still hanging to it like the morning dew on the leaves.

Her alabaster arms and legs, that Hiro had come to know quite well by now, weren't however the target of his attention, mostly because her horns had also grown by _a lot_ during the time he had been away to get some bread and honey. They were...nearly as big as his own by now, and the color was almost the same, even though they looked like they were pulsating with an inner glow, the same glow that burned in her blue eyes, giving an eldritch look to her face distorted with anger and still inhumanely beautiful. Too focused on those details, Hiro only narrowly dodged another flying kick, her bare foot leaving another crack on the wall where his head was half a second ago.

 _ **Damn, your first mate sure looks pissy today. What did the princess do to her, for her to be**_ **this** ** _angry?_**

Hiro didn't answer, too busy dodging her kicks and punches to really care about what Gladiolus was whispering. This was different from every single training session they ever had during their time serving APE and Papa – Honey was waaay stronger, faster, harder, more precise now than back then, and, worst of all, she was _angry_. Angry enough to pull nothing back, angry enough to forget about her little hero and to put, behind each blow, an indomitable will to kill. And of course, her partner couldn't retaliate – under the mantle of fury she was endorsing right now, she still was his Honey, his first partner because Naomi didn't count, and the first woman he ever loved. Even if he was at the bitter end of another ass-kicking, he wouldn't lay a hand on her, unless of course she asked him to. Right now, his only possible actions were dodging, blocking, blocking and dodging again.

 _ **How miserable. How can you pretend to be her mate when you won't even fight her?**_

"Not now, Gladiolus...I know she's not herself, right now..." Hiro whispered, throwing himself to the ground and rolling to safety to evade her blows. "I don't want to hurt her."

 _ **And yet she wants to hurt you. No problem with defending yourself in that situation, you know... You gave a beating to the princess, remember?**_

"STOP...WHINING...AND...DIE!"

Hiro indeed stopped for a second. Honey had just screeched these words in a bestial, primal way, and due to her tone it didn't seem to be directed at Hiro, but rather at the insidious little voice inside him. This moment of inattention could have been the last, and this time he couldn't get away from her assault quickly enough to totally avoid it, her nails leaving a nasty gash on his cheek.

 _ **I told you so. Now knock her out before she tears your eyes out.**_

Hiro didn't get a chance to answer this call to arms, because once again Honey's blows found their target, sending him against the wall _again_ and leaving a big crack on it _again_. He was still alive, of course, but he couldn't help but wonder for a tenth of a second about what kind of lasting problems would arise from him being repeatedly thrown into the walls with extreme violence. A tenth of a second later, he found Honey's bare arm pressing against his windpipe as her eyes, full of outerworldly hatred, were deeply gazing into his own. His efforts to stop her seemed futile – either Gladiolus was unable, or unwilling, to give him enough strength, or Honey's apparent metamorphosis had brought him head and shoulders above even the level of the monster that had killed him a few hours ago. As she was trying to strangle him, she brought her face less than a centimeter away from his own, as if to kiss him in the heat of battle. Smiling widely and unveiling her teeth – had they always been so sharp and pointy? - she started whispering, directly to his mouth :

"I am going to rip out that cancer inside you...and then I will get my Hiro back..."

 _ **Is that half-blood talking about me? I think she is.**_

"Yes, I am talking about you, little shadow...now time for you to disappear!"

In a moment of consciousness that felt like frozen in time, probably as a side effect of oxygen deprivation, Hiro realized that he had no idea about what the fuck was happening anymore. Apparently Honey could now perceive the presence of Gladiolus inside of him, referring to it – wrongly, of course – as a shadow that needed to be exterminated. And of course, her feral mind had not even stopped for a second to ponder about what kind of consequences that extermination could have on Hiro. What a dumb dinosaur.

Anyway, that lack of consideration for long-time consequences and tactical matters was a very good thing for Hiro right now. After all, if he was poised to become a _mastermind_ , to quote Gladiolus, it was time for him to prove his tactical acumen in a little hand-to-hand combat. And right now, the situation was ripe for it ; just like any predator closing on to its prey, Honey was probably about to drop her guard for a second just before going for the kill, and Hiro would be there to capitalize on this opportunity. Her left arm still crushing his windpipe, her right hand a talon ready to rip and tear – to excise the tumor away from her beloved – she was, indeed, focused on ending his life as soon as possible, not on watching his every move to defend against them. After all, he had been a pretty passive opponent during this fight.

That whole _coup de grâce_ moment appeared slow as a dream to Hiro, her final blow going on and on and on for what seemed like an eternity. There was an opening, right there, under her left arm. In fact, her whole left flank was left defenceless, a juicy target indeed for a counter-attack. Striking here quickly enough, could have thrown her off balance and allowed Hiro to get on the offensive himself. He didn't _strike_ , however. As they say, "All is fair in love and war", and the former elite pilot wasn't above underhanded yet efficient ways to get the upper hand. When his hand sneaked inside her guard, it was to fondle her breasts.

In hindsight, that was a very good idea. Squeaking in a very un-dignified manner after his hand copped a good feel, Hiro's pistil suddenly backed down...and tripped on the conveniently placed foot of her partner, losing her balance. Hiro allowed himself a slight smile before pouncing as the huntress was now the prey. A second later, he was straddling her thighs, his hands restraining her own in a position that, in other circumstances, would have probably led to an...interesting follow-up, especially with her current clothes, or lack thereof. Sudden visions of the past, of his first kiss with her, came back to him – once again seeming to arise from a time long forgotten. Now, in the rage of her eyes, there was something else, like a pang of fear at her predicament. There was no way around it: she had been bested by her mate, and she knew it.

 _ **Nice, you finally got her. Naughty little girl, so deserving of punishment...but that's for you to decide, not for me.**_

"JUST LET ME GO SO THAT I COULD KILL YOU!" Honey growled again, struggling and writhing under Hiro to escape his iron grip.

 _ **Trust me little one, once he'll be over with you, you'll beg for him to NEVER let you go...**_

Did these words struck a nerve in Honey, did they weaken Hiro's resolve? Were they enough of a threat to muster strength in her heart and fear in his own? Anyway, a second later she managed to throw herself into him, escaping his hands. That would have probably succeeded, but she forgot to factor in the position of her stamen, and as such the last thing that both of them felt was a blinding pain when both of their nearly-antler-sized pair of horns violently collided.

* * *

That was the second time in a few hours that Hiro found himself dragged into the mental mindscape of one of his wives. Some things never changed – for example, the sudden disparition of Gladiolus' presence inside his mind – but the place and the general feel of it were of course very dependent on the circumstances. His first time with Gladiolus, or at the very least his first time reaching Gladiolus' mind, had been in a hellish place of sand and blood rain. Here it looked like...being back at the Garden? In their old room? Everything was blurry around him, but he could clearly make up a few things in this dreamplace. The dining table, the bed, the oven.

And of course, turning her back to him, Honey, chopping vegetables on this table, still wearing her elite uniform and humming a song. Hiro instantly recognized the place and time – the day just before he had joined her in bed the first time. The day he had tasted her blood. Assessing the situation with a sigh, he wondered aloud :

"Am I dead? Again?"

"I don't think so, Hiro. And yet..." she answered gently, turning to face him, "and yet just look at you. Where's the young parasite who decided to call me _Honey_ the first time I met him? The one I taught the basis of close combat? My first love?"

"Yeah, I had to change quite a bit during those times, to survive," he answered, coming closer with a smile on his face. "Found myself allied to the klaxxosaur princess, made a pact with the soul inside our FranXX – and I intend to probably marry both of them before the end of these adventures, along with you. I went back to the Garden to make sure we could bring you back safely, and I died there before coming back to life less than five minutes afterwards. Also, Papa hates us now, and he has weapons powerful enough to challenge everything and everyone standing in his path. And, last but not least, I met your former partner. A real pain in the ass, I understand now why you told him to fuck off. And I guess that's all. So now, it's time for us to go home, right?"

For a second, Honey looked like she was about to hit him in the face when he mentioned the marriage part, her own eyes expressing a bit of the anger that she had shown a few minutes ago. After he finished his explanation, she sighed, bowing her head in what looked like despair, before talking again.

"I'm...I'm not sure I want to go back. How long has it been?"

"What? I mean, it's been two days from my end since I woke up. So, add a few more days where I was barely conscious, and we're at a week since we escaped. I know I should have checked the calendars when I came back to the Garden. So, let's make our return as swift as possible, right?" he asked again, extending his hand towards hers. She refused to take it.

"To me, it felt a bit...longer... The last thing I felt was you...and that presence, that _shadow_ , stealing you from me. And then, the dark, for what seemed to be months. Years, even. Here, alone in the dark. Waiting for you to come back. And then it happened. The memories. You...and whoever was that blue slag. Playing around with her. Forgetting about me. Tell me the truth one last time, _my little hero_... it was her mind, her influence, that I felt then, isn't it? And now she's keeping you on a leash." With every single one of her words, her voice grew colder, like the kiss of winter in the darkest hours of the morning.

"If you indeed saw everything, then you'd know it wasn't her...And the situation is a bit more complicated than just her dominating me..." he tried to explain, before seeing her seethe again. And yet, the flame in her eyes was drowned by the sorrow in her voice.

"Then you were willing. Of course, I should have seen it coming. Jumping from partner to partner as soon as the previous one isn't there anymore...Ready to do her bidding if that meant you could get a chance to jump in bed with her."

"Everything I did, I did it FOR YOUR SAKE!" screamed Hiro, his calm and confident attitude suddenly breaking down to reveal what was lurking inside, the pain, the fear, the bitterness. "Yes, I bonded with her. To save you. Yes, I allied with the princess. To save you. As I said, I even _died_ for you. Now it's time to come back there. Together."

"...You won't take no for an answer, won't you?"

"Not a goddamn chance. We started this story together, and we will end it together. Pistil and stamen, man and wife. United, as it should be."

This time, she took his hands, before collapsing in his arms in tears. He let out a sigh of pleasure, before closing his eyes, keeping her close to his heart as the world around him seemed once again to disappear in a blur of colors. It was time to come back to reality – something that would probably be harder for her than for him, if what she implied with her words was true. Anyway, between the princess that had spent aeons alone, the pistil that had just woken up from a coma and the bloodthirsty general that had just emerged from her biometal prison, the return to a "normal life" would be fucked up no matter what.

* * *

 _ **Looks like he's coming back with her. Three wives now...and probably more to come.**_

 _Hmph. I'm not going to give her an easy time. After what she did..._

 _ **Yeah, you got sucker-punched by a half-ningen hybrid. One that was supposed to be nearly dead. Utterly and totally hilarious.**_

 _Shut up. She became better when I injected her. More powerful, stronger, faster, deadlier._

 _ **And you're currently weaker, slower and less deadly than a half-ningen. Hiro beat you up thanks to my strength, but this one was alone. You need exercise, and training.**_

 _Shut up. I'm not in the mood for this kind of..._

 _ **YOU**_ _ **shut up. We're at war, Princess. Every single day to come is a day where we will have to defend our lives and the ones of our loved ones. Gone are the days where you could just sit on your throne all day and send your little soldiers to the slaughter. Now you're going to get up your ass, and we're going to make a warrior out of you. Someone that would make your father, may the Horn guard his soul, proud.**_

 _You can't..._

 _ **Yes, I can, and I will. Besides, you won't be the only one needing training. Hiro has his horns now, which means he'll have to learn how to use them, and not only to gore these ningens...and his partner will need it too. You know exactly why.**_

 _I'd love to be as confident as you are about all this fate and destiny stuff. How can you be so sure, after all this time? No doubt? No hesitation?_

 _ **I just know it. Also, he has horns and blue blood now, remember? At this point, it's all but confirmed. And even if he's not...no, scratch that, that's not even a possibility. The days to come will be bright again, Princess. Remember the words.**_

 _Yeah, I remember. "Last daughters of a forlorn line shall guide him into history..."_

 _ **"Beneath the stars, prophecies clash; the war of ancient enemies." Now VIRM is coming back, and the age of these humans is coming to an end. A shame. They had a good run.**_

 _Their fate was sealed the day they tapped into our brethrens' life force. Either they disappear, or the planet dies. There's no possible in-between, no possible compromise._

 _ **Humans disappear, and we come back. A fair trade, I guess.**_

 _It is. Now, let's welcome her into the fray. She'll need to apologize for what she did, though._

 _ **You'll get a return match once you're back in shape. And one with Hiro too, unless you consider the post-fight mating as a worthy revenge. Which, according to the old rules, you're totally entitled to do... just like that "return match" with her could take place in the bedroom, as long as Hiro is there to be the arbiter in this case.**_

 _Shut up. Not a chance in hell._

 _ **A shame. To quote Hiro, this would have been fun...**_


End file.
